Midnight Sakura
by Neko-Tenchi
Summary: On a rainy night, itachi finds a injured cat and for somr bizarre reason he takes it home and heals it. the next morning he waks to find his cat had turned into a rude,cheeky, opinionated and exeptionally atractive cat girl who goes by the name of Sakura.
1. The feline in the rain

_I don't own Naruto, just my own ideas_

_I got bored waiting for a Poll that I can't even get to work properly. So out of the two new story idea's I want to write-__Midnight Sakura and A Childhood Love__ (see profile for summery)-I'm going to write the first two-three chapters to both stories and I advise and hope people will read both of them because the one with the most review is the one I'm gonna continue, the other one gets put away for a long time. So please help me out with this headache and read and review Arigatou._

MIDNIGHT SAKURA

CHAPTER ONE

THE FELINE IN THE RAIN

It was midnight when he neared the village. Midnight, and raining lightly, a small drizzle that promised to grow into a heavy storm later as the moon rose high up against the pitch blackness of the night and lit the way. A ninja leaped through the tree's swiftly and silently without even rustling as much as a leaf in the breeze. After Six months in Snow country on a solo mission, the Shinobi was looking forward to returning, his eyes filled with the bloodline trait of his family, were focused straight ahead.

Itachi barely breathed as he continued foreword. There wasn't really any particular reason as to why he was hurrying to reach him home but for some reason he couldn't seem to stop himself from going so fast.

He was a Shinobi of the Uchiha Clan, proud and strong. True he no longer lived with said clan, he was still a member of them, their blood flowed through his veins and people of his clan were not an emotional people.

But even for an Uchiha, he was strangely isolated. He had no emotional attachments outside a small fondness for his younger brother and a slight friendship with his cousin. But they weren't anything special. He kept himself to himself and preferred not to interact with anyone outside his ANBU team, and even then, he preferred Solo missions. So when he had been offered the Six month Mission in Snow to spy on the Daimyo and his armies to make sure they weren't planning for war, he had taken the mission immediately.

Six months to himself, without any clan members breathing down his neck, or the ANBU master complaining about his lack of accepting team missions. He preferred it this way. It wasn't only that he was anti-social, but he just didn't understand people. He hated that they always seemed to expect something from him, and he disappointed them terribly, or lived up to them perfectly. But it wasn't him. He hated that, so he just ended up avoiding people.

But now the mission was over. While the Daimyo wasn't planning War, but his second in command was. Luckily Itachi was able to disband the rebels and eliminate the problem. But in his opinion, it was over too soon.

Then suddenly, something caught his eye. He stopped and tuned. What was that? He had seen something, something moving out there in the forest. Itachi wasn't a superstitious person, so when he saw it two things came to mind. One-he was imagining it; two-something was out there.

He began to take a step when there it was again, that thing. A silhouette against the moonlight...and it was running away. Normally Itachi didn't care about these things, but he couldn't have someone unknown running about so close to the village. So he took off after it.

But then something was wrong, the thing, whatever it was, began to speed up. Itachi had thought it would be an easy chase, but he found himself...being out run? Now he was even more determined to find whatever it was. He increased his speed by sending chakra to his feet. Soon he wasn't only seeing the creature, but hearing it. It seemed to be also leaping against the trees, an assassin perhaps?

He stopped, this smell, this coppery smell like metal. Itachi stopped for a moment and put his hand on the bark of the tree. The one that the creature had just passed. _Blood._ And lots of it. It seemed the thing was injured. Then suddenly he heard something akin to a growl, or a roar of pain. He jumped down from the tree to the ground and looked around. The roar was weakening into whimpers of suffering. Itachi followed the sound to some bushes, and pushed them apart.

Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been this. It was a cat, or rather, a Black Jaguar. The beautiful cat was sprawled on the ground, writhing in pain, it's beautiful fur completely stained in blood from the multiple wounds on its body that it was completely coloured red. Itachi watched the animal. Why was he still here, he wondered after some time. Itachi was not an animal person, he tolerated Inuzuka hounds and he had even once tolerated Kakashi's ninja hounds on one mission. But all in all Itachi just wasn't an animal person. He normally wouldn't care about some cat. Yet for some reason, he couldn't get his feet to move.

He watched the proud animal, once it was probably strong, powerful and beautiful. Now it was only something to be pitied while it slowly and painfully bled to death. Still, it wasn't any of his business, Itachi didn't care about the animal...so why was he still here? And why, despite his hate for animals, did every aspect of himself want nothing more than to help the poor animal?

He wanted to help it, but he didn't know why. The Jaguar was so small, it looked like it could be a kitten, and surly it wouldn't matter if he left it? However, Itachi had always prided himself on his instants, and now they were all telling him to save this cat. So against his better judgment, he bent down and as performed a simple sealing Jutsu to seal all the wounds temporarily so the bleeding would stop. They needed bandaging. Then, as carefully as possible, he managed to scoop the Cat into his arms and with that he proceeded to hurry towards the village.

There was no taking it to the Inuzuka animal centre, it was too late and there was no way any of them would wake up to heal a _cat_, who wasn't even a Ninja animal. So there was only one thing he could do, he had to bring it back with him to tend to it himself. So that's what he did.

Long time ago, Itachi moved out of the Uchiha Complex. The elders had been against it, his father had been against it, and even though she didn't say, he knew his mother was against it too. But at that time he had felt so...sick of being told what to do about everything that he just wanted to make a decision for himself for once. It turned out to be one of the best decision he ever made.

The peace and quiet as well as the privacy of having his own apartment away from the complex suited Itachi quite well for a long time, just as it was suiting him now, he didn't even want to think about what would have happened if he had shown up at the complex with a half-dead cat bleeding out in his arms.

But luckily, he just returned to his apartment. The guards at the gate had been a little suspicious, but his being the Uchiha heir, they wisely didn't say anything. Itachi brought the cat to his bathroom, and proceeded to as carefully as possible, wash the wounds clean. The animal had passes out sometime during their journey though the forest, so he was left with little resistance on its part.

He used a towel to gently wipe away the blood and a basin of water to rinse the wounds clean, as he had been taught to a long time ago when he was young by his mother. Then again at the time, he had been taught that with the intention that he would be attending to human wounds, not feline.

After some time, itachi began to realise something, this Jaguar was partly pink. When finally the entire blood had been washed away, it was revealed that among the silky dark fur were rings of pink fur. Two around the tail and one around the neck. But other than that, the fur was black, the most rich, deep velvet black he had ever seen. Despite being fatally injured and partly pink, Itachi had to admit, it was a beautiful animal.

Itachi paused. Why was he doing this, going all out, just for some cat? He looked down at the pitiful animal, injured, in pain and close to dying. He didn't want it to die for some reason. He wanted to help it. And for now, just knowing that would have to be enough.

He brought it to his room and laid it on his own bed. Itachi was no medic, but even he knew how to bandage wounds efficiently, which he proceeded to do. However it took some time since there were quite a lot of them. He was just finishing bandaging the deep gash in by the throat when he heard growling.

It was so warm, so warm it felt like she could faint all over again. When was the last time she had been this warm? Must have been years, that was the last time she had been home. But why was it so warm? A thought crossed the Jaguar's mind, perhaps it was dead, was this what death felt like? No, the cat had been on the brink of death before, and it was nowhere this warm. But terrifying. So why was it so warm?

As the Cat's senses began to clear and intensify, she began to notice things around her. The smell, this scent was over powering. This smell, that fresh rainfall and the forest. She felt so calm, what a calming scent. The Jaguar felt like it could purr, not only was it so warm, but the scent was so pleasing.

Her smell was back. Now what next. Taste, what was this, she could taste blood, her blood, but while her body was still numb, she could at least tell whether she was bleeding or not, and she wasn't. Why was that, the last thing she remembered was being attacked, fighting. It had been a good battle, she killed three of her attackers, but in the end they overpowered her and she was nearly killed. In the end it had taken a lot to escape. But then they began thin out and leave. Why had that been, she was so weak, so useless. It would have been easy to kill her. So why could she taste blood when she wasn't bleeding anymore.

So taste and smell was back. Anything else? Well slowly her hearing was beginning to hiten, her hearing as well as her sense of touch. There was something..._binding_ her wounds. Something, something...something! What was that, why could she feel someone touching her. And what was that sound, like a weapon being unsheathed. Or was this it, was she finally going to be killed?

There was no shame in dying, the feline decided, she had fought a good fight, and she had been on the brink of death before, this was no different. But she refused to be killed so easily like some domestic house pet. She would look her killer in the eyes.

So, despite the pain, the mighty feline groaned and forced her eyes open on sheer will power. At first, everything was white and for a moment, the fear of being blind entered the feline's mind, but then slowly, pictures began to form, blurry pictures becoming clearer by the minuet. She blinked and looked up. The first thing that caught her eyes was the knife being pointed at her neck, and the person doing the pointing was looking away. She didn't want that, she wanted them to look at her when they killed her. So she let out a warning growl and the person's head turned to her.

The feline was taken aback for a moment, this wasn't the man who had attacked her. This wasn't one of the men who had put the wounds in her body. They didn't have Black eyes. Like night, midnight. His hair was just as dark and...He was still holding a knife for her neck. She snarled, she had gotten distracted for a moment, but it didn't matter. The Feline stood her ground.

But then the man did something strange. At first he didn't do anything, he just looked at her, and then he reached forward to her neck without taking his eyes of hers. But there was no pain, no feeling of a knife being plunged into her neck. Instead only the sound of a snip, like fabric being cut before he pulled away with a piece of bandage in his hand. Bandage? She looked down at her paw. Sure enough, around the cut on her front paw, there was a fresh bandage. So that was what that feeling had been, so wait, was this man trying to save her?

Itachi heard growling and looked down at his small patient. He froze for a moment, which was a big thing for him since he _never_ froze. But he did when he saw its eyes. They were green, the most rich, beautiful emerald green he had ever seen. They seemed so deep for some reason he felt himself feeling dizzy.

Pointed eyes of a predator, it seemed almost strange to see something so beautiful on something so dangerous. Itachi just watched her (and he had already guessed that the Jaguar was a her) for a moment. Thought he wasn't one for animals, he admitted to himself, she was a powerful animal. He was almost glad he saved her, it seemed like such a waste for something so interesting to just die in the rain on the ground in some unknown bush. He could imagine it in its prime, prowling on a hunt, those mesmerising emerald eyes focused on its prey.

Itachi blinked and realised that if its eyes were open, then it was awake. But surprisingly, the animal did not attack him, instead it only stared right back at him with what looked like...contempt? So, it thought he was an enemy but was too weak to attack. Itachi almost smirked, and now it wanted to look into the eyes of its killer? Well it was in for a disappointment, he thought as he reached forward with his Kunai and cut away the last of the bandage.

So curious, the feline seemed surprised when it saw the bandage in his hand, such a human emotion. Could cats even show fear, surprise and contempt in their eyes? Itachi didn't know, this would be the first time he had ever taken the time to actually look. But it was there.

He animal continued to watch him; eventually Itachi broke the eye contact and went to cut another bandage to wrap around the last wound on its right front leg. The feline took one look at the kunai and began hissing violently "be still" he said "I am not your enemy" and with that, the Jaguar recognised the authority in his voice and quiet downed, but it tucked its paw away defiantly.

Again, he almost smirked "if you hide that, then I can't bandage it, and it will get infected." He said. To his amusement and utter surprise, the cat's eyes seemed to be...weighing out the choices before it finally extended its paw.

Itachi didn't comment, he just took it and continued to wrap bandages carefully. He could feel the felines gaze on his hands as he wrapped, but made no indication that he knew and soon he was snipping of the last bandage.

He stood and walked over to the stand where he sometimes kept his medicines, all the while he could feel its gaze still on his back. He looked through the multiple bottles till he finally found the one he was looking for and quickly went and grabbed a plate from his kitchen side. With that he carefully set the plate down on the bed and poured some of the medicine in. The mixture was a strange purplish colour and it smelt horrible, Itachi knew from experience that it tasted just as bad as it smelt. "Drink it" he ordered.

The feline took one look at the bowl and gave him a look that seemed to say _'are you kidding me?'_ "it can't be helped" he found himself saying "this held replenish blood cells, it will help you recover some of the blood you lost". Itachi didn't really know why he was bothering to explain this to a cat, but in the end he was glad he did since the feline bent its head and drank the mixture obediently without another complaint. Itachi almost felt sorry for it, he knew how bad it tasted and even he wasn't able to drink It in one go, yet the cat was doing well so far and to his surprise and relief, it was drinking in a calm and clean manner so nothing was spilt.

Eventually it was all gone and the cat raised its head, some of the purplish mixture had gotten stuck to its fur but the cat licked it clean with a few swipes of its little pink tongue. It was then that he realise, did the cat get...bigger? The last time he saw t it looked to be the size of a kitten, now he would say it was a young teenager. Perhaps it had only seems small because of the rain and blood.

He took back the plate and on returning the plate to the kitchen also brought out a piece of fish that he hadn't eaten yet. "Here" he said handing it out it "Eat, it will take away the taste" the cat seemed reluctant to eat from his hand, but it was too hungry to worry about its pride. Its tongue felt rough on his hand and it licked away the remaining crumbs of fish once it had devoured the main body. He wiped his hand on his side and watched it. Those mesmerising green eyes looked up at him with a loom of '_so what happens now?'_ "Now I sleep" he ended up saying.

The cat growled and then, on sheer will power and with the little strength it received from the medicine and meal it managed to push itself to its feet as it then lay itself once again into a more comfortable sleeping position.

Itachi this time didn't hide his smirk, who knew saving a cat could be so amusing. The proud creature was trying to show that just because he saved her, he had no dominion over her; she was trying to reclaim some of her pride by ensuring that she wasn't leaving the bed. He sighed, let the proud feline have the bed, he thought as he left to change.

And an hour later he himself was fed and bathed as he returned to find the feline asleep, its body shifting with every breath. Even in sleep it exerted power and beauty. He ended up getting into bed beside the Jaguar, not a smart move but Itachi had confidence that should it decide to attack in the night, he would be able to awake immediately and subdue it, because he didn't really want to kill it.

So with that he closed his eyes and was soon lulled to sleep by the erythematic sound of the Jaguars breathing.

The next morning Itachi awoke. The first thought that came to mind was how he had slept. Itachi was one of the unfortunate people to be plagued with insomnia, but he had trained his body to sleep at least for a few sufficient hours every day. But from the light that was seeping though his windows, it looked like he had slept though almost half the morning!

The second thought was...what was that? His outstretched hand clenched around something, something that felt like...hair?

He was out of bed in a second as whatever was on his bed with him tumbled out onto the floor with a squeak and the cover still wrapped around them. He grabbed the kunai from his dresser and approached the thing doing battle with the covers on the floor. He reached forward, and grabbed the cover and with one tug it came away.

Itachi almost dropped his kunai.

In his vague mind, he knew he had saved a cat yesterday...so why was there a girl on his bedroom floor? The girl was small, but she looked to be about his brother's age at nineteen or twenty. Her body was so slim and petite, her...that's when he realised that she was naked, and turned away in disgust.

He noticed something strange as his eyes travelled to her face. Her face was small too, heart shaped and she had a slightly wide forehead, but nothing noticeable and not something that made her look unattractive. But that wasn't the surprising thing, but more the long, waist length pink hair cascading down past her shoulders. The girl stretched on the floor, almost feeling like and began brushing over her face like a cat trying to clean its whiskers. Wait...cat? Itachi noticed something else on her head. Cat ears?

There were two, pink, cat ears perched on her head and as his eyes travelled down he saw here was also a long pink tail poking out from under the covers. A long pink cat tail with two rings of black on the tip...a little like the Jaguar from last night.

He did a double take, where did the Jaguar go? He looked around. There was no sign of it and nothing showing it had left. He looked back to a girl and noticed something on her neck...bandages. There were bandages all over her body, in all the placed the cat had been injured the night before.

No

No, no, no...No, it couldn't be, he refused to believe it, it wasn't possible.

But then the girl turned to him and he knew it was true when he looked right into her dazzling green eyes. Eyes that seemed to hypnotise. They were her eyes. She blinked and tipped her head to the side in a smile and inside Itachi cursed, what had he done?

SO THERE YOU HAVE THE FIST CHAPTER. I WOPULD JUST LIKE TO WARN IN ADVANCE THAT SAKURA IS GOING TO BE VERY OOC IN THIS FIC AND ITACHI A LITTLE OOC BUT NOT IN AN OVERLY ANNOYING WAY, SINCE I LIKE THE 'IN CHARACTER' ITACHI BEST TOO (EVEN IF HE IS A LITTLE EMOTIONALLY AND SOCIALLY DENCE).

BUT I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE REVEIW IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE NEZT CHAPTER BECAUSE I REALLY WANNA WRITE IT.


	2. Catgirl? Honourbound?

IM SO HAPPY, SO MANY REVEIWS, I DIDDNT EXPECT THAT MANY, IM SO HAPPY

AND TO SHOW HOW HAPPY I AM, I WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER

ANYWAY, WHO'S SEEN AVATAR, THAT MOVIE IS AMAZING, I LOVED IT. BUT IT REALLY MAKED YOU TIAR OF THE HUMAN RACE AND ITS STUPIDITY DOSENT IT?

I HOPE YOU LIKE THS CHAPTER, POOR ITACHI, IT JUST WASENT HIS DAY

I DONT OWN NARUTO, BECAUSE IF I DID, ID BE RICH

Itachi looked down upon the little upon the petit naked woman on the floor. Her small smile, her light pink tresses, her unbelievable green eyes. The first thing that came to his mind was that he should probably get her some cloths, or at least turn away. But then before any of that his ANBU training kicked in as his Sharingan was immediately activated as he gripped the kunai and stepped forward and pointed the kunai at her threateningly "who are you and what are you doing here?" he said coldly.

The girl-no, woman he realised as he noticed the bulge where her chest was beneath the bandage- didn't seem to care. She simply looked down and began observing the handiwork on her body. She raised her wrist to her eye level as she looked at the bandage he had tied onto her paw last night. She opened her mouth and tugged it away with her teeth in one fluid movement. The bandage fell away to reveal pink, clean skin, no wound. She smiled satisfied before looking back up at him with those green eyes.

"You bandaged me" she said. He voice was calm, almost purr-like. Smooth and warm like honey; Itachi didn't know what to make of it. But then suddenly she stood, not really minding the fact of her lack of dress, Itachi looked averted his eyes so they weren't on anything other than her face as the blanket fell away. She continued to look down at herself. Touching the bandages, trailing her fingers over the places where her scars had been worse.

She sighed and then began undoing the bandage at her neck with one hand and the one on her stomach with the other hand. "No, wait don't..." he tried to say, but too late as she gave one tug and the bandaged fell away. He blinked as he saw her stomach. Then blinked again. The last time he saw that wound, it had been angry and red, now there was nothing. Nothing but clear smooth skin. He looked up at her neck and saw that just like her stomach, it was clean. But there was also something else. In the place where on the Black Jaguar, there had been a ring of pink, on this girl there was a ring of black, almost like a cat collar.

She stroked her neck and purred in contentment. Itachi decided he had enough as in seconds he was before her, with a kunai at her neck "enough of that, you will tell me how you got here" because he was still refusing to believe that this woman was the same Black Jaguar from last night.

The woman didn't look fazed as she blinked sleepily and reached forward for his arm and to his utter surprise, pushed it away as she said "remove that knife from me. I am not your enemy, and as to why I'm here" she smiled "didn't you bring me here?"

"I brought back a cat" he retorted.

"And I am she" she replied.

Itachi refused to believe it but then he felt something on his shoulder and he turned to see a tail resting lightly on his shoulder. He leaped back from her.

Now that he was further away and she was standing he could see her clearly. Thankfully she was covering her more private parts, but he could see well enough that the tail of hers wasn't just simply there; it was coming from her body. It was attached to her, in the place a tail usually was for a cat, the pinkness of the fur blending in to the cream colour of her skin. He looked to the cat ears on top her head. Then after a second, they twitched. Itachi began to realise that perhaps she _was_ the cat from yesterday, or at least those ears and tail were real. But if she was the cat, then how...

"You...saved me?" her voice interrupted his musings as she looked at him with curious eyes. "You brought me here, and you bandaged my wounds?" she asked. Itachi nodded "I did"

He looked again to her stomach "where are they?" She looked down also and said "my kind heal quickly". Itachi frowned "so then I didn't have to save you?" she shook her head "no, even though we heal quickly, from those wounds I would have bled out too fast before my wounds healed. You bandaged them, and shared your meal and medicine with me, therefore..." she took a step forward "...you...saved my life"

Itachi didn't know what to do. His instincts were telling him that there was no reason to attack this girl. She took another step towards him and Itachi felt himself freeze as his eyes were drawn in by hers. She looked at him, not seeming to mind the Sharingan. Itachi blinked and realised that without even knowing he had somehow turned it off.

Again, another step, so that she was right before him. He blinked and broke eye contact as she closed her eyes and to his surprise, got down on her knees. He could only watch since every part of him had frozen. She took his hand and he felt a jolt of heat shooting though him. Itachi cursed himself, what the heck was wrong with him? He had resisted much more experienced Kunoichi in his past, so why was his body reacting so much to this little woman simply taking his hand? She grasped his hand in hers and held them. "My people's traditions will not be dishonoured" she said "we are an honourable people, and for your deed of saving my life...I repay your kindness with this. And with that, she kissed his hand.

Itachi wasn't liking this, he tried to move, to pull his hand from her grip, but his body wasn't listening, he found himself physically unable to move!

And then her full, lush lips connected with the back of his hand in a closed mouth kiss, it was chaste and brief, but he felt so _aware_ of it that the simple knowledge was such a shock. Her lips left his hand and she said "I bind myself to you until the debt is repaid. Honour-bound" and with that, the ring of black around her neck suddenly began to glow slightly. Seeing this Itachi jerked his hand away as the glowing subsided back into black.

She looked up at him with her pure green eyes and smiled. He looked at her, then frowned "what was that...what did you do?" he said coldly.

She looked like she was about to answer, when he suddenly remembered how close she was, and also the fact that she was completely naked and turned away. He marched over to his dresser and grabbed one of his black mesh shirts. "Here" he said throwing it over his shoulder without turning around "put that on" he said.

Itachi heard the sound of fabric rustling and gave a sigh of thanks that whoever or whatever she was, she knew how to put cloths on. The rustling stopped and he turned. She was wearing the shirt alright, but she was so small and Itachi was so much bigger in comparison, and his shirt was just as big. It hung of her shoulder suggestively and barely covered her lower body, only just enough.

He looked away and once again cursed as he felt his heart rate speed up. Itachi guessed it was safe to say that despite his distrust and disgust, he was extremely attracted to her. Now all that was left was to make sure it just stayed at only an attraction.

She was still looking at him as she tipped her head to the side so that all her hair fell to her shoulder and her ears flattened on her head "Nyan?"

He was about to continue his questioning of who the heck she was when there was a knock on his door. This time he cursed out loud. "Stay here" he ordered and marched out to the door with only the silent plea that she would listen. He did not want to go though the hassle of explaining why there was a half-naked cat-girl in his bedroom.

The door opened to reveal one of the Hokage's Chunin messengers. "g-good morning Uchiha-sama" he stuttered, failing to look Itachi in the eye as he handed a letter to him "the Hokage wants to see you as soon as possible to for a report on the mission you returned on" he bowed and with that left. Itachi watched the place where the chunin had been for a moment, all the time cursing repeatedly in his head.

The Hokage! He had completely forgotten, he had to give his statement. But also, she had to be informed about his little...house guest. But how was he supposed to get her, all the way to the Hokage tower, without anyone seeing her? He supposed he could always teleport, but he wasn't sure if he could do so with her onboard. He closed the door and turned.

"Nyan?" he looked up at the voice to see that she was sitting cat-style before him. He looked away. And immediately turned to find some trousers that would fit her. When there was none he decided that some shorts from when he was younger would have to do, she was small enough to fit in them, and it wasn't as if he needed them anymore. He threw them over his shoulder and he heard her catch them "put that on" he said.

Again the sound of cloths rustling "are you decent?" he asked. "Hai" she answered. And he turned. Surprisingly, the large black shirt and the white shorts seemed to look good on her. He glanced at her head.

"I need to take you to the Hokage" he told her. She didn't answer.

Itachi looked to her neck "What did you do, before" he suddenly asked. She looked up at this "I made Binding" she said in a clear strong voice. "Binding?" he asked.

"Yes, it means that I am now honour-bound to you".

Itachi didn't want to even think about what that meant as he ran his fingers through his hair "this...I...you cannot stay here" he finally said "I'll take you to the Hokage, and if she sees fit you will be released, then I..."

"Sorry, but I can't" she interrupted. Itachi stopped and stared "excuse me?"

"You're excused" she said cheekily "but as to leaving, I cannot"

"What do you mean?" he said, knowing he was probably not going to like the answer.

"I am honour-bound to you. My people...we are an honourable people, but we do not like to be in dept. You saved my life and..."

"All I did was bandage your wounds, they healed on their own" he protested, his cold stoic voice hiding his rising distress.

She raised her hand to her lips and licked it before proceeding to rub it against her ears in a cat-like fashion "yes, my wounds healed. But as I said before, I was bleeding too fast, even I know that I would have bled out way before I could heal, and even if they healed, I would most likely would have gotten sick and died from infection of influenza from the rain." She finished grooming her ears and looked up at him with seriousness "but because you brought me to your home, cleaned my wounds, kept me warm and bandaged me. Shared your food and medicine with me, all those things prolonged my death until the wounds were able to heal, if you had not done that I would have most likely died. You saved my life, and now I am in your dept"

He grimaced, her words were true, with the wounds she had, she would have most definitely would have bled out way before her injuries could heal. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if she had been on the brink of death when he found her. "So what happens now?" he said.

"I said already, my people are an honourable people, but we do not like to be in dept. So I made a pact. I will not go; I will stay with you, until such a time where I can repay you. I will stay by your side until I am satisfied that my dept has been pain. And until then I won't go. In a matter of speaking, I am yours"

Itachi just looked down at her, until "that will not be acceptable" he said. She blinked in shock "what!"

"That will not be acceptable, I don't want you here, I don't need you to stay by my side and I won't hold you to your word. I won't have you as...some sort of pet. So leave now, or I will take you to the Hokage and you will leave after, either way, you will leave" he said sternly.

There was no doubt about his being attracted to her, and that was just another word for distraction. He didn't need one of those in his life, it would be better if she left now. He didn't want her to be his, bound to him like some sort of servant.

"You're thinking that you don't want to bind me like some kind of slave, aren't you" she said with curious eyes. Itachi couldn't help the surprise that displayed so clearly on his face "how do you kn..."

She smiled "for a human, you have very good eyes; I can see it in your eyes. Your thoughts are displayed so clearly" he hoped not, Itachi had spent a great deal of his time trying to make sure people _couldn't_ read emotions in his eyes.

"You won't need to worry about that. She said as she now inspected her nails, Itachi realised that they were perfect, manicured, not to long and very sharp, they almost resembled elegant claws before she looked up with a strong fiery look, her voice strong and commanding. "I may be honour-bound, but I'll be dammed before I allow any man to have dominion over me like some common house-pet. I may do as you ask, but I can choose not to and I will not allow anyone to take advantage of me" she snarled to prove her point.

Itachi only stared, then rei7sisted a smirk. So the kitten had claws, she had a fiery, defiant spirit. It was annoying, but he was glad to see it for some reason. She had looked like such a proud, strong powerful creature in her Black Jaguar form, he would be disappointed if she really was shy and easily over come. But her rebellious attitude was going to get her in trouble one day.

He shook his head. What was he doing? He wasn't suppose to be contemplating one day because there wasn't going to be a 'one day' "come on" he said curtly grabbing her wrist. He grabbed a scarf from a draw and tied it on her head, flattening her ears. She had cut a hole in his shorts for her tail, so he took out a cloak to hide her tail, the hood covered her pink hair, "you're coming with me" he said.

"Where are we going?" she asked

"To the Hokage, so we can get this mess straightened out and then you're going home" and with that he teleported to the Hokage office.

* * *

Getting past the guards at the front gate was relatively easy when you were a shinobi. Itachi simply used the window which he knew the Hokage usually kept open from simple observation. Getting though the window was easy too. But getting in, while holding a squirming female cat-woman with one arm, that was the difficult part.

But somehow Itachi managed it and they were both standing in the Hokage's office. She wasn't there. Itachi set his young charge down on the floor. She was trying to get the scarf of her head. "Don't bother" Itachi commented "I tied it too tight for you to..." but then there was the sound of fabric ripping and the scarf fell from the hood, all ripped. The woman looked up and flexed her claws as her green eyes twinkled with mischief "what was that about too tight?" she asked cheekily.

Itachi resisted the urge to groan. She was cheeky, rude, and had no idea of the word 'shut-up', Itachi didn't know how much longer he could go before he put her into unconsciousness. But he needed her awake for the Hokage, so Itachi held his ground.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps and voices coming from outside the door, the Hokage being one of them "Kuso" he cursed, he needed to speak to the Hokage alone, not with a gaggle of observers. He grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her over to the curtains. "Stay here and be quiet. Don't move or speak until I say so. Can you at least do that?" She nodded and Itachi covered her with the curtains.

At that moment the door opened to reveal the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, her assistant Shizune and another ninja who's name escaped Itachi at that very moment. Tsunade looked up and noticed the Uchiha standing by the window "Ahh, Itachi, you're back from the mission" she said.

Itachi nodded "Hai, Hokage-Sama, I've come to give my report"

Tsunade nodded and with a flick of her hand the other ninja disappeared. She walked over to her desk and sat down while Shizune took her place beside her, standing up, thankfully not near the window.

"So Uchiha" Tsunade said "Begin, what's the status in snow"

"The Daimyo was not planning on war, however his second in command, Imuki Anata was" he began, quickly and to the point. Tsunade nodded "and then?"

"I infiltrated his barracks as a soldier and disbanded the army form the inside. Finally, I ended the life of Imuki" he finished. Tsunade nodded again "were you seen or recognised?"

"No"

"I see" she said with a sight "well done Uchiha, you may go now, I want a written report in detail though, hand it in whenever, I'm in no hurry" she said with a glance at all her paper work and a groan.

Itachi did not move "Uchiha?" Tsunade said, raising her eyebrow.

"Forgive me Lady Hokage" Itachi began "but I have something of importance to discuss with you" he glanced at Shizune "alone if possible". Tsunade followed Itachi's gaze to Shizune and nodded "Shizune you please" Shizune nodded "Oh, of course Tsunade-Sama" she bowed and walked past Itachi. Itachi did not blink until he had heard the door close behind him and Shizune's footsteps walk away.

"Well Uchiha, what's this all about" Tsunade ordered "I haven't got all day"

Itachi did not know where to begin, and he didn't have the confidence to believe that the crazy cat-girl would stay quiet behind that curtain for long.

"On my way returning from the mission" he began "I came across something." This caught Tsunade's attention "oh, and what was it?" Itachi took in a deep breath "a Black Jaguar, and it was very injured"

"A Black Jaguar" Tsunade said in surprise "in this part of the country, I thought they lived in places like rain. "Yes" he agreed "but I brought the Black Jaguar back with me, and fixed its wound's" "that's admirable of you Uchiha, so what do you want, a medal?"

"No" he said "but when I awoke the morning, the Black Jaguar disappeared, I found this" and with that he turned to the curtain "you come out now"

The curtain rustled and then she stepped out, still wearing the cloak.

Tsunade watched in surprise, what was all this? But then the figure unclasped the catch at her chin and the cloak fell to the ground...to reveal a young woman with cherry pink hair, dressed in an oversized black shirt and white shorts that looked too small for her. But that's not what caught her attention, but rather the pair of cat ears perched upon the woman's head, as well as the long pink tail.

Tsunade stood up abruptly and stared in shock, '_it couldn't be, he didn't...'_ "Itachi" Tsunade began "w-where did you _find her_". Itachi watched the Hokage's response with suspicion "this, I am told, is the same Black Jaguar from yesterday" then before he could say anything Tsunade was out of her desk and before the young woman "you...you..."

Then she coughed and straightened "you are from the Haruno Clan, aren't you?"

_Haruno Clan?_ He thought, the name, he had never heard of it before. But the girl nodded with a smile "I take it you know of my people" she said happily "finally! I guess this is going to be easier than I thought" she pointed to Itachi "he wants me to leave, and doesn't seem to understand that I _can't_, not until I've repaid him"

It took five second before what she said was finally processed in her mind. Tsunade groaned, she was going to need a lot of sake. "Uchiha, you say you found her in her cat form, injured?" Itachi nodded "that is correct" Tsunade groaned again "and...did you bandage her wounds, and help her back to health?" she said. Itachi nodded "I did" for the third time Tsunade groaned "and did she, kiss your hand, did a mark on her body glow, did anything like that happen?" this time he didn't answer, but that silence was all she needed.

Tsunade went back to her desk, suddenly filled with the need to sit down before she fell down. She sat and looked to the confused Uchiha "well Uchiha, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news it, she's not going anywhere" his eyes widened "it's a Haruno tribe...call it a rule or a tradition if you want—when assisted by a human, they will stay with them until the day when they are satisfied that their debt has been repaid. Only death will get a Haruno to abandon that duty, you'd have to die and even then she'd probably spend all her days protecting your grave or your relatives. Its death or risk of total dishonour and rejection from the clan. Their honour is extremely important to them." She tried to smile "the good news is you now have yourself a handy little helper, and these guys are very lucky and very loyal"

Itachi did not look amused "this, it can't be broken" he tried to protest. But to his dismay, Tsunade shook her head "no, that pact she went through was a powerful Jutsu, and the only way to break it, is for the caster to break it. And she will only break it when she feels satisfied" Itachi didn't want to believe it, so he was stuck with her?

"Excuse me My Lady" the woman suddenly spoke up "but may I ask, how do you know so much about my family? We are quite...I mean we are very..." "Exclusive?" Tsunade subbed. The woman nodded "yes"

Tsunade sighed as if she were recalling old memories "because a long time ago, I met a Haruno, and went through an honour bound myself.

WOW, THIS CHAPTER PRACTICALLY WROTE ITSELF. IM LISTENING TO MADONNA 'PAPA DONT PREACH' FOR MADONNA, IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD. ANYWAY, PLEASE REVEIW, YOUR REVEIWS ARE WHAT FUEL ME.


	3. Midnight Sakura

WOW, SO MANY REVEIWS, IM SO SO SO SO HAPPY

THANKYOU ALL SO MUCH, IT GAVE ME INSPIRATION TO WRITE

I OPE YOU ALL LKE THIS CHAPTER

READ AND REVEIW

I DONT OWN NARUTO OR CAT PEOPLE

MIDNIGHT SAKURA

Last time: _"excuse me My Lady" the woman suddenly spoke up "but may I ask, how do you know so much about my family? We are quite... I mean we are very..." "Exclusive?" Tsunade subbed. _

_The woman nodded "yes"_

_Tsunade sighed as if she were recalling old memories "because a long time ago, I met a Haruno, and went through an honour- bound myself."_

The room went silent for a moment before the pink haired cat-woman finally spoke up "you did?"

Tsunade nodded, her eyes became misty, like she was reminiscing through memories.

"It was such a long time ago, way before I became Hokage, when I was still travelling around. I was with Shizune, and we were travelling when we came across a young Ocelot Kitten." The woman sat down on the ground on her knees, her hands propped forward like a cat while her tail rested on the ground besides her.

"It was injured and bloody and I knew it was dying" Tsunade leant back in her chair "now normally I don't really care about those things, I mean an animal is an animal, they die every day, there's no point interfering. But it was just so...beautiful." she smiled at the memory "that amazing, sleek fur and those eyes, those amazing blue eyes like the sky. I thought that it was such a shame, that such a beautiful creature to die like that"

Itachi stared at the Hokage. That was exactly how he felt before. He had seen her like that, such a beautiful, powerful animal, and felt it was too beautiful to die so pityingly.

Tsunade continued "so I took it with me, and healed it." She chuckled "imagine my utter surprise when the next morning, I found a little grey haired boy with car ears, a fluffy cat's tail and the bluest eyes?" Itachi's eyes widened. So, the Hokage too…

"His name was Tito" she continued "and he told me he was a Haruno. At first I thought he was crazy, either that or I was drunk. I, like most people, believed that the Haruno clan didn't exist anymore. But I was wrong, because he told me how they existed, but they lived apart from everyone. Then he proclaimed me his rescuer and before I could protest, became honour-bound."

Tsunade shook her head "that boy wouldn't leave me alone" she groaned "it probably wouldn't have been so bad, if he didn't attract so much attention. But…" she smiled "he was sweet, eager to do something all the time and always looking for new ways to be of help. A sweet, if not a little annoying, little boy.

"He preferred to remain in his human-like form most of the time, but I remember the first time I saw him transform into a Ocelot. Amazing, I would have loved to study him a little, but he refused. And it's not like I can force him to let me study him. And even though he was a little too loud sometimes…" she grinned "Honour-bound Haruno's have this weird ability to bring luck to their partners. I won every time at the gambling machines or in poker" that's right, straight jackpots for a whole month straight" she laughed and Itachi almost sweat dropped when he remembered his Hokage's gambling habit.

"And?" he pressed. The serious look returned to Tsunade's face "then one day, this village that had been caught up in war was under attack, I wanted to go and help them. But some enemy shinobi recognised me as a Sanin, and thought I was on the others side. So they attacked."

She shrugged "it wasn't that I couldn't defeat them, but more like, they just wouldn't stop coming. Every time I defeated the fist bunch, more would come out from nowhere. I knew that I continued to fight, I wouldn't get to the village in time to actually save any lives. So I was caught. But then he told me to go. Tito, I mean.

"He told me to go, looking at me with those innocent blue eyes. I agreed, because despite his age, he was still a member of the Haruno clan. I thought he could at least take care of himself till I got to the village, then I could sent Shizune to help him. But when I arrived at the village, the damage was so bad that I needed Shizune to stay"

The room was still silent. No one moved, well unless you counted the occasional swish of the woman's tail.

"when finally everything was over, I rushed back to the place I left Tito…to find that all the enemies were defeated" she shook her head "I thought I was going crazy, it hadn't been that long, I was sure he would still be fighting, but no, they were all on the ground dead. Then Tito looked at me, smiled and thanked me for the time we were together. Then he bowed, turned into a Cat and left. Just like that, he turned and ran into the woods. I never saw Tito again"

Tsunade sighed at the memory. At the time she had always know that the little boy would leave, she just didn't know how sad she would feel. She had grown close to that little boy, and then he just left. The first few days hadn't seemed real, almost like he had only been a dream. She sighed again and looked up at the small pink haired woman on the floor, and smiled. And now the irony.

Tsunade, the woman who had at that time been extremely unsociable at that time, had found Tito, a little boy so filled with life he filled those dark days with laughter and helped Tsunade get though the worst stages of her depression before leaving so suddenly. And now Uchiha Itachi, the most unreachable man to exist, had found her, this woman. Tsunade wondered mildly, if he would change with this meeting. The way Tito had changed Tsunade, and helped her through a difficult time.

The woman leant her head t the side. Perhaps, he would change. "Hey" she called and the woman looked to her with her big beautiful green eyes "so, what's your name?"

Itachi blinked her name? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even asked her for her own name. the woman smiled, her little fangs pointed out "my name…" she touched her chin with her hand and her smile turned into a grin "I guss you can call me…Sakura, Haruno Sakura."

Itachi looked down at her. _'Sakura' _her name suited her.

Tsunade nodded "Sakura, that's a nice name. Meet Uchiha Itachi. Your new Honour-bound partner" she looked up at his name and to his utter astonishment, giggled. Again, to his astonishment, he found himself asking "what?" she shook her head "your first name, it means Weasel, dose it not?" she asked. He looked down at her "and what of it?"

She shrugged "I was only thinking how from first impressions, it doesn't suit you. Weasels are extremely rude, unmannered creatures. I don't associate with them usually, and now I am in the presence of an Itachi. Forgive me, but in my view, this is quite amusing to me"

He didn't know what to say. The Hokage broke out in laughter "man, are all you Haruno's this frank?" she asked.

The woman—no—Sakura, shook her head. As she stood and held out her hand to Itachi "please to make your acquaintance Uchiha-san" she smiled and for the life of him, he couldn't make himself feel angry for the comment as he simply stared down at her hand like it was some foreign thing. "Uh oh, perhaps I should explain some things" Tsunade spoke up, breaking the moment "Sakura-chan, If I may call, you that?" Sakura shook her head "no, not at all" Tsunade smiled, "well then, if possible could you step outside for a moment, I need to speak with Uchiha for a moment, in private"

Sakura nodded with a sunny smile and with that _jumped out the window!_ Of the tallest building in Konoha, Itachi watched her leave and was suddenly filled with a strange worry that she might be seen as he took a step forward. But the Hokage's voice stopped him "oh don't worry, she's probably on the roof or something" she said with a wave of her hand "but never mind that, I think you should sit down, we have some things to talk about"

Itachi turned to the Hokage, his head spinning. "What is the meaning of this?" he said, not bothering to add a respectful tone, he was too annoyed and confused for that. Tsunade groaned for the seventh or eighth time that day "Uchiha, there was nothing you would have been able to do. Either way it was inevitable the moment you laid eyes on her, no matter what you were going to save her. It would have happened this way whatever you had done. You would have saved her either way. So don't start over analysing things like I know you will"

Itachi clenched his fist and sighed, he could assess the situation later, for now he had a question "who are the Haruno's" he said,

Tsunade made an attempt to smile "well, I was kinda expecting that question. Though it's really supposed to be a secret, I guess you should know all the facts though, especially since you're caught up in this mess too."

Itachi remained silent.

"The Haruno tribe used to be a clan...of Shinobi belonging to this village. I don't know all the details, because all I know is what is in Konoha's records and what Tito told me which wasn't much. But it's enough. As you can see, Sakura's a cat and she can turn into a real cat. This is because of an extremely powerful Kekai-Genkai"

"Kekai genkai?" those ears, they were because of a Kekai-genkai, but... "I did not sense any chakra, it wasn't a Jutsu" it couldn't be a Kekai-genkai was the part left unspoken.

Tsunade nodded "if what the records say are true, then that's because it isn't, at least not anymore" she sighed "listen Uchiha, here's a little story for you. Long ago, way before the Uchiha clan even existed, or perhaps they were just being started. Who knows. Anyway, long ago, there was a clan, they were the Haruno clan.

"Remember Itachi, a Kekai genkai, is simply when the DNA of a person has been changed in a special way so a special Blood-line trait is born. However, with the Haruno's it wasn't their blood that was affected, it was their vey _DNA. _Their DNA was changed beyond compare, they had DNA similar to an animal, then with time it became animal DNA. And so their Kekai-genkai was born. No specific name for it, they didn't classify it as a Jutsu. Because Uchiha, when you use you Sharingan or a Huuga uses his Byakugan, it affects only the eyes, correct?"

Itachi nodded

"Well for the Haruno can, this affected their entire body. Better sences. Better smell, better sense of touch in a way I can't even fathom, better hearing, better sight, better taste, perfect animal instincts. Heck, they were even able to take the form of their genetic animal. This is only a few of the things they could do since not all their secrets were recorded and I have a suspicion that there was more to their powers, there's no telling what they could do, it was that amazing. What I would have given to have been able to study Tito's DNA a little. But he wouldn't allow it, clan secret."

Itachi was registering the information he had been told. So the Haruno clan were that powerful. He thought about the innocent looking pink-haired kitten from this morning. Itachi knew better then to underestimate an shinobi bloodline, but he just couldn't imagine her to be that dangerous. Annoying perhaps, but not dangerous.

"In fact, the Haruno clan were so unbelievable, that people began to fear them" Tsunade looked up "back then it was a time of war, not the Great Shinobi war, but war all the same. Everyone was suspicious, and those with Kekai genkai were feared."

Itachi knew that, he had been told a long time ago by his father, of a time where people with Kekai genkai were outcasts. Not the Uchiha clan, but other clans. And those who weren't outcasts were feared.

"The Haruno clan knew of the villager's fear of them, it made them paranoid. Eventually assassins started coming, then they made their decision. They used the Kekai genkai more and more, until there came a time where they never took it off."

Itachi's eyes almost widened. He knew from experience that using one's special bloodline trait for long periods of time harmed the body, that's was why he only used his Sharingan in battle or when needed. How could anyone constantly keep their bloodline trait on without their bodies being damaged?

"Now, I know that usually if a person keeps their Kekai genkai on all the time, it's bad for them. But think of it this way: the Sharingan and the Byakugan are two Jutsu's that work around the eyes, so extensive use can sometimes cause the charka to damage them. But this Jutsu affects their very DNA, and their using it non-stop, their DNA did something strange in the situation...it adapted. It adapted in a way, that their animal-human forms were no longer a Kekai genkai bloodline, it was them. Their DNA accepted the animal DNA fully, so it became their original bodies, so now, this form is who they are. It's no longer a Kekai genkai"

Itachi stared in shock. No longer a Kekai genkai? their actually bodies? Was that even possible? For a Kekai genkai to become apart of their bodies, it couldn't be true. But then he remembered her ears, there was no chakra surrounding them, that was he naturally. He knew it.

"What happened to the Haruno clan then" he inquired.

Tsunade shrugged "all I know is from the records, when the war was over, the head of the Haruno clan at that time asked the Hokage for a request. He wanted to take his clan and live away from the village. The Hokage agreed and that what happened. On the request that the Haruno clan they cut themselves off from the village and became Nomads of a sort. I still don't understand why the Hokage at the time allowed such a powerful clan to leave, but I'm sure he had his reasons. Then the great ninja war took place, records say that the Haruno clan took part, though were never seen. After that, they just disappeared, never to be heard from again. Every now and again, someone would claim to have seen one, but people would brush it off. Eventually it became a myth or legend. Some people believed the clan died out like me. When I saw Tito, I thought he was probably the only one left or something. But now with Sakura..." she trailed off.

"Well she's proof that thankfully, we were wrong"

"Hn"

"Uchiha"

"Hn"

"You aren't allowed to harm her in any way" Tsunade said sternly.

Itachi didn't say anything "I mean it Uchiha, no matter how you feel about the situation; she is your Honour-bound. The Haruno's have never gone against the village and I would like to keep it that way. If Sakura is alive then we can only assume the rest of them still are, harming her could cause a riot. She will stay with you after her dept is paid she will eventually leave.

"Hn"

"There's one more important thing I need your word on"

Itachi once again didn't comment.

Tsunade continued with an extremely serious expression "as I've said, there Kekai genkai became who they are, so as the generations continued, they forgot…they forgot that they were once human"

This time Itachi didn't hide the surprise on his face as his eyes widened, but then he returned to cold neutral so fast Tsunade wondered if she had only been seeing things as she continued "remember this Itachi, she is no longer a normal human, and she doesn't know she ever was one. So under no circumstances, are you to tell her otherwise. She's not like us, no matter how human she looks. If you tell her that her people used to be human, it will break her. I tried to tell Tito…let's just say results were disastrous. He wouldn't believe it. So don't bother trying. Do I make myself clear?"

He stood there, then gave one curt nod "Hai."

"Also, if you really don't want to tell anyone about your honour-bound, tell them she's a mission. But I suggest you let them know soon, she will not take well to being hidden. The village will fear her for a time, but if she is under your protection they will leave her alone. And she is under you protection, your responsibility."

He nodded once again "Hai."

Tsunade watched his face for any sign of emotion, but there was none, she sighed "this won't be so bad, pretty soon you'll get used to it."

She looked up, this time his expression was a little different, "I know you have something to say, so speak freely"

Itachi did so "Lady Hokage, with all due respect. I don't need her. I don't particularly care about her Honour-bound, it's no business of mine and I don't intend on getting involved. I have no time to baby-sit a myth or protect something that isn't supposed to exist. She would only hold me back and I frankly don't believe that she will be of any use to me. She will only be a hindrance, a unnecessary weakness, which is something I don't need. Isn't there any way for her to be released without filling her honour-bound?"

Tsunade shook her head "none not so ever, the Jutsu is binding"

"So how long will she be here, estimated?"

Tsunade thought for a moment "it depends; the repayment has to be according. How badly injured was she?"

Itachi didn't answer at first "she was almost on the brink of death"

Tsunade groaned _'I need sake'_ "She's going to be here a long time"

Itachi didn't reply, but inside he was grimacing. If he knew that she was going to be this much trouble, he wished he had never saved her.

Tsunade smiled "now, there are a few things you should know that will make this easier…"

* * *

Sakura sneezed loudly; perhaps they were talking about her? She sighed and used her claws to scratch herself behind the ear as she purred at the delightful feeling. When she was young, her mother would always scratch her ears, when she was in cat form or true form. Sakura loved it, she couldn't help it, it was her cat Genes. But ever since being sent out, she's roamed about in her Jaguar-body, so no one would approach her, and no one would scratch her ear. So in the rare times where she was in her humanoid form, she would do so herself.

It had been so long since she was human again, Sakura usually preferred to be in her Cat-form, since it was so much simpler. She could hunt better this way, clime tree's, run faster on all fours and also she wasn't bothered by old drunk men looking for a woman. Sakura wasn't vain, but she knew her own beauty, and so did those men who wouldn't take a hint…until she turned made take a hint with her claws.

She could usually handle herself well enough, but that time, she had been over powered. Her enemies attacked in groups. She was tired, hungry and hadn't slept for weeks and her chakra was extremely low. Sakura managed to kill a few of them, but eventually she began to lose strength and they overpowered her. It was then that she used one of her people's secret abilities, to call her underlings, or little friends she preferred to call them, and they made a distraction for her. With that she was able to escape. But her wounds were so great, so many. She could feel her own heart pumping blood out her body at an alarming rate.

She had thought that her attackers had given up, from the lack of human chakra scents. But then, there was one, one so strong that Sakura had begun to feel nervous. None of her attackers before had been this strong.

So she ran. Despite the blood, despite the fact that she knew she was dying. If she died, she wanted it to be an honourable death, not killed in her weakest state. But the person only caught up with her, till she felt like she couldn't go any further, she was going to die. It was only a matter of how much blood she had left.

She fell from the trees, past the leaves and into a bush where she lay as her body bled out. Her people and she had remarkable bodies; they healed at an alarming rate, both inside and out. And Sakura herself was especially remarkable since she was invulnerable to poison. But she was bleeding too fast, she knew she would run out of blood way before her body could heal.

Then she passed out.

It seemed like an age before she had woken. She woke to warmth, such warmth that Sakura had wondered if perhaps she were dead. But one by one, her sences were returning and she realised she was still alive. But perhaps not for long. There was binding around her, and the sound of a knife being taken out. Sakura remembered feeling so outraged, if she had only woken a little later, she would have been killed in her sleep. Such a dishonourable way to die.

She forced her eyes open,. Determined to look into the eyes of her killer. But only…he hadn't been wanting to kill her. He was trying to save her. He wrapped he wounds, shared his medicine (even though it tasted revolting), shared his food with her, though it hadn't been much it had been the most kindness she had received in a long time. Sakura didn't want to even think about why, it didn't matter.

She remembered her surprise when she had realised he wasn't her attacker. Her attacker had been shinobi from Grass, that man wasn't anything like the man who was helping her. He was so…strange for a human.

Most human's had strange scents, sometimes they were horrible, sometimes they weren't entirely too bad, but at the same time not to her liking. But this man, his scent had been so…nice. He smelt like the forest after a rainfall, earthly and natural. She felt so calm, as much as she knew she should have been apprehensive, Sakura admitted. At that time, she had not even expected that she would live to see another rainfall, and Sakura so loved the rain. Then to spend that time in the warmth, with his rainfall smell everywhere, on the bed, on the pillows, in the room. Sakura felt so calm.

His eyes were so dark, like midnight, his hair like coal. It seemed everything about this man seemed natural. It was so strange that of all people to save her, it had been someone whose scent had so much pleased her.

For someone of her kind, a cat, scent was everything. It could tell a Haruno everything about a person, just from their scent. It was a good thing he smelt like the rain, she decided. To say Sakura wasn't too fond of humans would be an understatement, so if she was to undergo this honour-bound, then the only comfort she could take from him was that he smelt nice.

This country was so hot; perhaps she was back in fire country, that was where her own tribe was. Sakura had almost missed the warm temperatures of fire, was she here? She would have to ask that man later. Uchiha Itachi. That was the name the Alpha of this place had called him. Sakura could tell from the respect he was showing and from her commanding appearance that she was the leader of this place.

Sakura stood and surveyed all before her. A village, she was in a village. While it was nothing like her own village, it was too small to be a city and too quiet to be a town. It had to be a village. That man, he was a Shinobi, she was sure of it. The headband had told her that. So if she was in fire, and this was a village of Shinobi, that must mean that this was the Village hidden in the leaves, Konoha.

How strange, she had always been told that her clan had once lived in this village, but Sakura never thought she would actually come here. A Haruno could go through their whole lives without ever coming to this village. She smiled, Tito would be so jealous.

Yes, she knew the Cub that that woman had spoken of. Tito was a little Ocelot Cup of the lower branch, so young and sweet. He had said something of going though an honour-bound one day. So that was the woman who had saved him. Sakura wasn't surprised, she seemed nice. She also had a pleasing scent, like oranges spiked with Sake, she reminded Sakura of her own aunt. She had smelled like lemons spiked with Sake.

Her pink ears twitched as she looked down at the sound of footsteps. He was leaving the building, which meant so was she. She took a step and leaped of the building, never mind it was from the highest peak in the village. She landed right before him with her cat-like agility, perfectly on her feet. Sakura had jumped of higher than this, this was like a stone's throw away compared to a mountain.

She looked up "are we don't here Uchiha-san?" she asked looking up into his emotionless face. That was another strange thing about him; his face was looked so strange, like a void, there was nothing. But his scent told her everything. He was angry, apprehensive…affronted?

"I am done" he said in that evenly perfect pitch "as for you, I don't particularly care what you do. Since I am told you are here to stay, I will take you back to my apartment where you will stay"

He began to walk by her till her voice stopped him "I'm afraid that won't be happening" he stopped and turned "I have to stay with you, not in your home" and she began to walk past _him_.

But then an arm at her wrist stopped her "you will listen to me and do as I say"

She looked at him with an eyebrow raised , then _slapped_ his hand away, and felt pleasure as she smelt his scent change to something akin to surprise first and then anger. But his face was completely neutral. What an amusing little human he was, perhaps this honour-bound would be more interesting then she thought. "I don't obey anyone, least of all you" she said definitely.

He frowned "you attract too much attention"

"Hmm, that is a problem" she agreed "but still, NO, to being locked away"

He opened his mouth with the intention to contradict, but was interrupted by the shout of "ITACHI!"

They both turned their heads to see a man running over to them; he was dressed in a uniform similar to Itachi's, with dark hair and dark eyes. Perhaps they were cousins? His scent changed again, to worry this time, and Sakura realised that he was probably trying to think of a way to explain to his cousin why he was being accompanied by a cat-girl like herself. She sighed, and closed her eyes as her body began to change.

* * *

Itachi was thinking fast, trying to come up with a way of hiding Sakura from his eccentric cousin. Shisui was his cousin, and probably the only person in the Uchiha clan that he was on a regular speaking term with other than his brother and mother. But Shisui had a major imperfection, his ability to misunderstand everything. Itachi really didn't want to go though the long, tiresome role of having to explain Sakura's existence. The only reason he probably hadn't already seen her was because she was standing right behind him from Shisui's view.

"Hey Itachi" Shisui gasped as he stopped before him "I see you back from you mission, how was Snow Country" he grinned "cold?"

Itachi was not amused as he answered solemnly "yes" he was waiting for Shisui to look behind him and see her, pink hair and all. Eventually Shisui did look behind him "Oh wow, that's cool" he gasped in awe "I guess you brought home a little souvenir" Itachi raise his brow, that wasn't exactly the reaction he had been expecting. Shisui looked up for a moment "But Itachi, I thought you didn't like cats" he said. At that, Itachi herd soft growling.

He looked down and to his astonishment, the girl Sakura wasn't there anymore, instead in her place, was a black Jaguar. Her fur a glossy black, eyes a stunning green with the strange rings of bright pink markings, two on the tip of her tail and one around her neck. She was bigger than before, she now reached his mid-thigh, but she was still as amazing as he remembered. She looked up at him with an expression that seemed to say '_am I good, or am I good?'_

Shisui bent down and reached out to her, he had always been good with animals, so he was not afraid of her. One of his hands went to her head while the other scratched her under the neck, to Itachi's surprise her soft growls turned into purrs of contentment. "Wow, where did you find her" he asked.

Itachi realised he was talking about the cat Sakura. "On the outskirt of the village. Shisui continued to scratch her as he nodded. He whistled "would you look at those eyes, I've never seen such a green, so deep. And this fur, like velvet. For a wild animal it's so smooth." He looked up "do you think she belongs to someone?"

Itachi doubted it "no"

"And she's taken a liking to you?"

Itachi said nothing.

Then Shisui left her neck and instead began stroking her black fur from the back as her purrs continued.

"Shisui" Itachi said to get his attention

"Hm?" he replied, still occupied with stroking Sakura's beautiful fur

"What did you want?"

Shisui stopped for a second before looking up "nothing, just saying Hi. Say Itachi, is she yours?" this question surprised Itachi for a moment. He couldn't say she wasn't, because judging from Shisui obvious admiration for the animal he would want to take her with him, and technically, she was his if what Tsunade had to say was real. His honour-bound Haruno companion.

"Yes" he replied.

"Shame" Shisui commented "she's such a beauty, you don't get animals like these anymore, only wild vicious Nin tigers and dogs. Though I have to say, you were the last person I expected to get a Nin-animal partner, I thought you didn't really care for animals" he looked own "hey, does she have a name?"

Itachi thought for a moment "Sakura" he replied. She Shisui looked down at her "really, kinda girly right. You'd think it be something more like Mayonaka, for her fur. It suits her." Glanced at her tail "but then again, those pink striped really stand out, exotic almost. His hands went to her legs "strong legs and back, lean build but not muscular, good for speed." He went for her mouth which she opened at his touch to Shisui's obvious surprise "good teeth, nice fangs, you be careful of those, they'll give you one heck of a bite. But nice form, they're really healthy and clean for a wild cat, are you sure she isn't store bought?"

Itachi shook his head as Sakura closed her mouth "nice eyes" Shisui continued "and intelligent too, you found yourself a good partner, lucky. How is she in a fight?"

"I don't know, I've yet to see her fight"

Shisui nodded, "when take her out to train with her, call me out, I wanna see" he said standing up. "See ya Itachi" he waved "Bye Sakura-chan"

Itachi watched him go when suddenly

"Do you still think I attract too much attention" a slightly low but still feminine voice spoke. Itachi looked down to see she was sat beside him, looking like she belonged there as she looked up with those mischievous green eyes

"well Uchiha-san?"

WOW, LONG CHAPTER, I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT, I REALLY ENJOYED WRIGHTING IT.

MAYONAKA MEANS MIDNIGH IN JAPANESE, HENCE THE NAME. BECAUSE IN HER CAT FORM SHE IS THE COLOUR OF MIDNIGHT WHEN IN HUMAN FORM SHE'S LIKE SAKURA BLOSSOMS

I GAVE A SHORT EXPLANATION ON SAKURA'S BLOODLINE, BUT I DIDDDN'T GIVE THE WHOLE STORY, THERE'S STILL MORE TO COME SO DONT THINK THATS ALL.

PLEAS REVEIW, AND I PROMISE TO GET THE NEXT CHAPTER TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLEM I'VEDESIDED TO TAKE A BREAK ON MY OTHER STORIED TO CONCENTRATE ON THIS ONE, SO PLEASE REVEIW, HOPEFULLY I WILL GET AT LEAST SIX-SEVEN REVEIWS

REVEIW ONEGAI


	4. Compremise

HELLO EVERYONE!

SORRY THIS CHAPTER WAS SO LONG; I WAS WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER TO 'BAD BOY' ANOTHER ONE OF MY STORIES. BUT THIS ONE IS FINALLY DONE AND I HOPE YOU LIKE IT. THIS IS EXPLAINING A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF THEIR BOND IN THE BEGINNING. AND ALSO, WHY ITACHI IS SO ATRACTED TO HER, BUT DON'T WORRY, IT WONT STAY THIS WAY

Chapter four

A few hours later and the two of them found themselves back in his apartment bedroom with Itachi standing at the far side of the room and the cat-woman Sakura sitting cross-legged on the bed while she examined her claws oblivious to him, now returned to her humanoid form. Itachi watched her with the information the Hokage gave him still in mind. He looked up to her pink cat ears as they twitched slightly every now and again. They were one her Kekkai Genkai attributes and now they were who she was.

Itachi still couldn't believe it was possible, for Kekkai Genkai to become someone's natural body. He had heard about some Kekkai Genkai leaving some sort of physical scar like the Huuga's milk white eyes, but this was too much.

He wondered mildly what would happen if his own Sharingan became his natural eyes, like the Sharingan eye for Kakashi. But he dismissed the thought immediately. Kakashi was a entirely different case, with his eye being an implant from the eye of his dead team mate, while with Sakura, the Hokage had said that it had worked for the Haruno's because their Kekkai Genkai's worked with their DNA.

Itachi knew that if he were to attempt to recreate the same method as the Haruno's with his Sharingan, he would only be inducing pain for his eyes.

"Why don't you paint a picture, it should last longer" Sakura commented from the bed without looking up into his eyes which were regarding her. Her voice snapped Itachi out of his thoughts.

She looked up at him with her vibrant green eyes "if there is something you wish to say you should do so, or we will be here all day" she smirked "what's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

Itachi did not appreciate her stab at punning humour. He noticed outside that it was beginning to get dark as the sun set; the infuriating woman had kept him the whole day.

He noticed how her tail twitched, like a clock hand it went back and forth in an almost hypnotising state. Her tail and ears were both pink, as well as her hair; he did not know what to do with her. The Hokage had advised him to keep her with him as much as possible, but how was he to do that when her hair alone attracted so much attention? Not even mentioning her ears and tail. He didn't want to have t go thought the disturbance of having to explain to everyone about his predicament. Then he remembered what happened with Shisui "you can change between forms?"

She blinked "yes"

"Why did you not mention so earlier?" he asked annoyed, it could have saved him a lot of trouble.

She raised her eyebrow at him with amusement "you found me as a Black Jaguar before seeing me like this, did it not occur to you that perhaps I could return to that form?" she asked. Itachi inwardly grimaced, when she put it that way it sounded so simple. But he had had a lot to think about at the time the thought had not occurred to him. In her cat form, she would still attract attention; Shisui was the example of that, but not as much as she would like this.

But even so, there was a reason why he did not ever require a Nin-animal; it was because he did not need one. They were bothersome, and simply hindered him. He had not wanted one before and he certainly did not want one now. He looked at Sakura; she looked so feminine, so delicate. He could not imagine such a female in battle, perhaps as a medic, but not a fighter. He did not need an animal that could not fight.

She tucked a hair behind her ear, such a human trait. Itachi didn't know how to react to what the Hokage had said about her not really being completely human anymore; she looked human in every way. If only for the ears. Itachi did not agree with servants, and he certainly did not want to make a pet out of her. First off it was wrong and more trouble than it was worth, and against what he believed in, and secondly it was troublesome. He did not need this nor did he want this.

If she were to simply stay here all the time it would be easier. "You will remain here" he said. She blinked again "huh? Are you going somewhere?"

"No" he said "I mean you will remain here, in this room. I don't need you following me everywhere, so if you honestly wish to serve me you will remain here"

A moment passed, and then something changed in her. Itachi had expected her to protest, but he did not expect the raw anger in her eyes as she shot off the bed with a feline-like vicious hiss.

"_Serve you!"_ she cried "I serve no one but myself and my own people, I am no one's servant and I am certainly not yours you idiotic human."

She took a step to him "how dare you try to order me like that, treating me as if I were no better than a common house pet! _Remain here_, I will go as I please, f I wish to stay by your side then I damn well will"

His eyes squinted in anger, he was a respected man and was not used to people treating him like this "you are my Honour-bound..."

"Yes I am your honour-bound" she screeched "that dose not make me your servant. And even so as an honour-bound, I will stay by your side as I please, no matter what you say." She hissed viciously like a cat that had had its tail stepped on as Itachi looked on with surprise. She was nothing like the cheeky, sarcastic female from that morning. Apparently, she had a temper. He almost smirked, but irritancy at her lack of respect for him made that difficult as he grabbed her wrist.

"You will show mw respect" he sad coldly. To his surprise she returned his glare with no fear and a astonishingly calm yet angry face "and why should I"

"Because I am your-honour bound, and you will do well to remember the one who saved your life" he said.

She stared at him and to his utter astonishment she laughed out loud "My honour-bound, _My honour bound?_ I don't care if your are the lord of all of Japan, If I want to call you an idiotic human then I bloody well will" she snapped.

Itachi glared and tightened his grip on her wrist "I don't appreciate your insolent attitude" he said darkly.

Sakura only looked down at his hand and with her other hand placed it on his, her claws digging into his skin. They broke though without any time taken and Itachi pulled away in surprise. Sakura raised her bloody claws to her lips and to his disgust, licked it away "Insolent Human" she said in the same tone as his "my insolent attitude, I don't know much about you my friend, but if you ever use honour-bound as an excuse, think again. As an honour-bound, all I'm required is to protect you until the dept is paid...that..." she smirked "and I can't kill you or your people"

Itachi stared at her in bewilderment. She was nothing like what he had expected. She continued while her tail swished back to forth "and as to saving my life, May I remind _you_" her eyes shortened "no one a_sked_ you to save me. I was afraid for my life, like most living things are, however I ready to die. You chose to save me and to help me. I am already paying you back by undergoing an honour-bound; therefore I owe you no more than that. And as an honour-bound" she walked to the window and trailed her claws on the cill "this does not take away any of my free will or freedom, I do what I want, when I want because I want to. I stay by your side because I want this honour-bound to end, and there is nothing you can do to stop me"

She glared and stretched. "I am not your servant; don't think so for even one moment"

"I was not trying to make a servant out of you" came Itachi's soft voice once he was sure she was calm.

She looked up "oh, it sure sounded that way to me"

Itachi shook his head "when I implied you stay here, I meant it was because your form as a cat...person" he seemed to have trouble describing her humanoid form "...would give me unnecessary problems"

"Really" she asked "how so?"

"like your ears for example?" he pointed out "in case It has escaped your notice, there is no one else in this village that have that...problem". She raised her brow "but I was under the assumption that my people originated from Konoha?"

His eyes widened "how do you know that?" had she listened in on his and the Hokage's conversation, did she know about her Kekkai genkai?

"I was told back in my own village, it is common knowledge that our ancestors lived in this village, but the people feared our powers, so we left. She said with an innocent sweep of her tail. Itachi inwardly sighed, so she did not know. That was good.

"But I do not want to hide the way I look as if I were ashamed" she said with a calmer shake of her head. "Your eyes bleed red sometimes as a power of your own, I read about it once, it is called the Sharingan, is it not?" she asked. Itachi nodded. "Well what if you were forced to constantly hide your Sharingan, a part of who you are, because it was an inconvenience to someone. To act like you were ashamed of yourself?"

Inwardly, Itachi scowled. He understood her point and understood to some extent why she took such offence to him wanting to hide her away. She wasn't a cat, no matter what she looked like, he couldn't shut her away because she was an inconvenience, and he couldn't force her to hide who she was because it was troublesome for himself. It wasn't right and he knew that.

Itachi sighed "I apologise"

Her tail stopped twitching "come again?"

"I apologise for my remark" he replied "It was stupid and insensible of me to try to force you into hiding yourself involuntarily, or to make you feel as if you were being confined and controlled. But don't take it in the wrong way, you are not my servant, or my slave. However" he became more serious "You are to have more respect for me. You may not be my servant, but if you are to stay with me I want you to know your boundaries. Know them, and I will respect yours" he decided to compromise "agreed?"

She looked at him for a moment before smiling "so as long as I'm careful with my words and act respectful to you, you will show me my respect and give me my freedom?" her smile became softer "you are so strange Uchiha-san, such an amusing little Human" she nodded "very well, I accept, I will watch what I say. But don't expect me to not speak my mind, I only promise I will do so to some extent in public, only fully behind closed doors and I will only speak against you if I truly believe you are wrong."

Despite himself, Itachi smirked. Her stubbornness was tiresome and irritating, however he liked her spirit, her determination to stand for herself in an almost pure way, it was refreshing to see someone speak so openly, no secrets, just her mind. "Agreed"

She smiled "I agree also then...but I have to say, Uchiha-san...sounds a little too formal" she nodded "I think I prefer Itachi-san...or perhaps Itachi on its own" she balanced out the two names with her hands like scale till the right hand won out "yes, Itachi sounds much better"

Itachi sighed "Haruno-san..."

"Please" Sakura sighed "Haruno-san is my_ mother_, address me as Sakura, or I will stop answering"

He raised an eyebrow. "Sakura then"

There was a moment of familiarity between them then, for one moment, Itachi was able to really see someone. Sakura was stood before him with her ridiculously long pink hair was twisted round in an attempt to tie it back, but many strands were escaping their hold and were hung by her face, lightly kissing her cheeks. Her emerald eyes glittered and seemed to glow and irritably, Itachi felt his pulse race.

But he stopped himself before his attraction got out of hand, remembering what the Hokage had said:

_Flashback:_

"_Oh, and Uchiha, I noticed how you looked at her" she seemed to find difficulty finding a suitable way to describe the Uchiha's attraction for the pink haired Cat-woman. "Hokage-sama, that is another reason why I cannot have her with me, it would be unethical for her. " he also seemed to have trouble getting the words out in public._

_To his surprise, Tsunade laughed "oh, don't you worry about that, it's not you, its her". Itachi blinked "I'm afraid I fail to understand your meaning" he said simply as Tsunade laughed again. "It's another part of their Kekkai-genkai, like a defence mechanism. Her body gives of a kind of Pheromones, regularly that make her seem attractive to members the opposite sex. It's not you, it's her."_

_Tsunade shook her head "with me, I just could never stay angry with Tito, even when he called me Baa-chan sometimes. For you however, you feel attracted to her because your ages are so close. And that's what I mean when I say that no matter what you would have done, it would have ended in you taking her home to help her. They say that when they're close to death, those pheromones go crazy wild and increase tenfold in order to attract some besotted male or female to help them, like a body distress signal."_

_Itachi grimaced. So his attraction, was nothing but something pheromones from her body produced? "Will this continue?" he asked._

"_Now that she is honour-bound, to other males no, but for you, perhaps a little longer, at the most a day or so, then it will go away and there will be no attraction unless it's something real"_

_He resisted the urge to scoff._

_End flashback_

He turned away from the sight of her. It was her Kekkai-genkai, that was all. And give him a few days he will be back to normal is what he told himself as he walked away.

A yawning sound caused him to turn as she stretched, well, not that it hasn't been an interesting talk" she said, all traces of her anger before gone "but I'm starving" and with that she opened the window. Itachi blinked as a wave of cool night air it his face. It was dark out now, the clock above the window reading eight. "Where are you going?"

She turned her head to him with a confused look. "I'm going out to the forest" she answered as if it were obvious.

"Why?"

She smiled "silly human, to hunt, how else will I eat?"

He blinked "if you go out you will be seen" he commented "I'd rather not you were discovered in that fashion"

She shrugged and smiled. Itachi watched as her skin began to darken and change texture, her large doe eyes began to get slimmer and more refined, she body began to shrink till she was on all fours and her skin had become midnight black fur. Before Itachi's very eyes he watched as the feminine and beautiful Sakura turned into a Black Jaguar with emerald eyes and a pink ring around its neck and two on the tip of the tail.

The Black Jaguar chuckled "there, problem solved, but just for today, Ok?" and if Black Jaguars could grin, then she grinned and before he had the chance to say otherwise she was out the window, her deep black fur melding with the darkness of night as she disappeared.

Itachi watched the space she had been standing for a few more moments before collapsing onto his bed. This has been a long day, first he finds a pink-haired cat girl half naked in his bed, then he finds out she can turn into a cat, then the whole business with the honour bound, then the Hokage with her Haruno bloodline information and now he had found himself resigning to his fate with her. What next?

It almost didn't seem real now that she was gone, her voice, her eyes, her twitching tail, unless he was seeing it first hand it seemed too unreal. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, a movement he seemed to do a lot this day.

He lay back on his bed and closed his eyes. Perhaps if he were to sleep it would all be some bad dream? Perhaps she would not return if he was lucky.

The next day the sun rose and Itachi awoke with the dawn, as he sually did, he sat him and found to his sunrise that he had slept in his own cloths. Had he fallen asleep the night before?

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. Flashes of the night before ran thought him mind, perhaps it had only been a dream. His eyes snapped open to find that Sakura...was nowhere in sight. He leaped up and checked in his living area, his bathroom and his second bedroom.

No, she was not here, she was not there, she was not anywhere. There was nothing. Not even the bandages from her wounds, no blood, no fur or strands of pink hair. The only thing that could suggest her existence was the missing piece of fish in his fridge, but Itachi could have easily eaten that himself and forgotten.

Perhaps she had only been a dream. Maybe he had saved a Black Jaguar, and now it was gone, taking its bandages with it. That would explain lack of bandages since he defiantly knew that e had rescued a Black Jaguar that night upon returning home, but there was nothing in evidence that the Black Jaguar had tuned into a cat-girl.

He sighed in relief as he entered his bathroom to prepare for the day. Twenty minutes later he found himself washed and refreshed as he grabbed an apple from the counter and left the apartment. The only explanation was that it had to be a dream; there was no mistake about it. So if it were only a dream then he wouldn't need to allow it to worry him anymore.

Itachi headed or the training grounds by the village walls. Training, that was what he needed, to focus him mind and erase all thoughts of his disturbing nightmare.

He entered the training grounds and took out his kunai. Target practice, not that Itachi needed it, but it was good to have something to focus on. He flicked two kunai at the targets and watched with satisfaction as they embedded themselves directly in the centre. He reached for Shurikin stars and threw those as well. He continued to throw, some he watched and some he threw out of instinct and only looked up when he was out of kunai.

By the time he had reached the twenty-fifth target: "Very nice" someone called out. He stilled at the voice. At the surprisingly feminine, familiar voice. He stopped and turned and to his distress, there she was.

She was sat on the metal fence behind him, in her humanoid form this time, with a smile on her face as her eyes twinkled with mischief. "Very nice" she repeated in that cocky tone "every target hit, you could be a one man show. People would flock to see you. If being a ninja doesn't work out, you could always go to Las Vegas" she winked "don't ask me what that is, my grandfather just mentioned it to me once. Crazy old man. Lovely, but a little bit absent minded." She grinned.

Itachi repressed the urge to groan. So she wasn't a dream, despite his hopes on the matter she was very much here. She was here and she was watching him. It seems that she was indeed his honour-bound. Itachi looked to her and noticed a cut of something red and almost...flesh-like in her hand. She raised the flesh-thing to her lips and...bit into it as a drop if something red dribbled down from the corner of her mouth. "What is that" he asked in disgust.

She looked up and licked the red substance away with one swipe of her little pink tongue "breakfast" she said holding it out for him to see "want some?"

Only now could Itachi see that the thing looked flesh-like because it was flesh. A slab of uncooked meat freshly skinned in her hands. "Where did you get that?" he asked, hoping that she did not steal it from some butcher. She jabbed behind her with her thumb "from the forest, you have many delicious animals here" she licked away some red substance that was dribbling down her arm "I love deer, not my favourite of meats, but it is rather tasty. And it's worth the hunt."

"You caught that?" he asked in astonishment. When she had said _'to hunt'_ the previous night, he hadn't really thought she actually meant to go into the forest and _hunt._ "Is that all you caught?" he asked. She shook her head "no, I devoured the rest of my kill the night before" as she licked away some more red substance.

It was then that Itachi realised that the red substance was in fact blood and the meat in her hands was very fresh "you are eating it raw?" he commented.

She grinned and took another bite in her catch as smiled "how else would I eat it" then she smiled at the obvious disgust in his eyes. "don't look so surprised Itachi, what did you expect, that I could take it for Mongolian barbeque?" she wiped her mouth with the back of her free hand "our tastes are different from each other human, I am more used to eating raw foods, and you find that as a cat, food tasted better raw. In fact, it tasted strange to me when the food is cooked; it takes out all the flavour. What I wouldn't give to eat sushi again, that fresh fish, so nostalgic" she sighed "but I haven't had nice sushi for years, it's not as if the shop tenders are giving it away free to stray Black Jaguars"

He watched as she once again bit into her 'food' "why did you not take from the fridge, there was food?" she scoffed. "Please Itachi give me some credit, I'm not stupid. I show up, bind you to me, and suddenly become your new house guest, all in the space of one day; I did not expect your fridge to magically stock up. you seem like a solitary person, so I can imagine you only buying enough to cook for yourself, I would only inconvenience you" she winked "I'm a big girl Itachi, with you housing me, protecting me and actually putting up with me, it would be impolite to assume that you would also feed me. And I do not expect it of you, not when I can feed myself"

So she was aware of how inconvenient it was for him and was...concerned in her own way. How strange, she never gave off that feeling that she actually cared about his feelings in this matter. But she was right, he had not expected her and to feed her and to do so at this present time when he himself was low in supplies, she would be even more of an inconvenience to him.

She shrugged and took another bite of her meat as her eyes closed to savour the flavour "oh this is so good" she sighed after she had swallowed "I haven't eaten so well in so long"

He watched as more of her breakfasts' blood oozed down from the corner her mouth and she licked it away. Despite the fact that he knew she wasn't human and the Hokage and confirmed, it, Itachi couldn't help feeling, like she was normal. He felt compelled to remind her of her remaining human DNA, whether it was because of the bond or because of himself, it didn't matter.

"You will not eat in this manner again; I will provide you with food. If you are to be under my protection then I will do so properly"

She shook her head "there's really no need, I can provide for myself. Besides, you couldn't feed me, I eat too much"

"Am I to understand that the dear you caught, that was..."

"yep" she grinned "all gone" she raised her eyebrow again "Black Jaguars of my breed can go for days without food, a whole moth if necessary, so in order to do that, we need to eat as much as possible whenever we get the chance. This is actually my first real meal in a whole month.

'_A whole month!'_ even Itachi did not go that long without food. He looked up at the woman before him. "Then you will eat regally everyday so that you will not have to consume an entire cow before fulfilment" he commented.

She looked up at him with lazy eyes "whatever, it's your decision, but If I get hungry and there is nothing to eat I will hunt. It is my instinct and I cannot deny my body this" she said as she finished off the last of her meat. Licking her fingers. "So what happens now?" she asked.

Itachi realised that sometime in his conversation with her he had drifted away from the training field and to her side. He turned and returned to the centre of the targets. "You do not need to stay with me at all times" he said "if you are in the form of a Black Jaguar, then it should be alright for you to..."

"No!"

He stopped at her defiant cry. He turned; she was holding her hands up in a halting motion "No, No, No, no way. Not going to happen, don't even think about it, get that idea out of your head now" she cried "you you have any idea what will happen if I go strutting about as a big, seemingly wild Black Jaguar? One look and suddenly I'm being chaced by half a dozen blood-thirsty ninja's with only one thing on their mind. to kill me and maybe even skin me to turn my fur into a pelt" she waggled her fingers in a waving motion "then its Bye-Bye Sakura" she paused for a moment then raised a brow suspiciously, "unless...that's what you wanted?"

"Don't talk stupidly" he snapped as he flung a kunai at another target which hit perfectly "I highly doubt that is what will happen. What makes you so sure the villagers will react that way?"

She shrugged "because it's happened before, repeatedly. People don't like things with sharp teeth and the potential to rip their throats out" she said with an almost sad look in her eyes.

Itachi turned back to her. His black shirt was entirely too big for her and the neck hole was hanging loosely off her shoulder. Her long strawberry pink hair contrasted completely against the dark fabric, but as the sun from the morning sun beams lightly lit her up and trees stirred in the winds, she looked almost surreal. The white shorts hugged her calves perfectly, but it was too short. And for some reason, Itachi did not like the idea of hormone filled males ogling at her legs. "We will need to purchase some new cloths for you" he murmured to himself.

She did not seem to notice, or if she had then she was simply ignoring him as a blood red butterfly fluttered down to her. She held out her palm and it rested gently in her hand. Those kinds of butterflies were extremely cautious of strangers; perhaps it was male, being attracted to her Kekkai genkai. She smiled softly at it, taking pleasure in simple nature, such a pure action with no alternative meaning. Itachi found t difficult to look away.

Itachi closed his eyes and reminded himself one thing constantly. It was only her Kekkai Genkai, that was the only reason he was so attracted to her, simply because of her animal DNA. In a few days he would be back to normal.

"Itachi?" his eyes snapped open at her confused voice. The butterfly was gone and she was standing before him with a confused expression "what is wrong"

He was about to open his mouth to reply when suddenly he felt a chakra signal behind him. "Good morning Itachi, I see you have returned from your mission"

Itachi spun around so fast he blinked from the sudden blast of cold air to his eyes. He looked up at the man before him, with his silver hair that defied gravity and his one dark eye, the other concealed with a headband "Kakashi" he said softly in recognition "is there something you required?"

Kakashi blinked lazily "hmm...Oh, no, no nothing really. I was only wondering whether you knew when Sasuke would return from his mission. It's been a long time since team seven trained together"

That's right, Itachi realised, Kakashi was his brothers former Jounin sensei. And even though Sasuke was now a Jounin himself, he and his teammates were still very close to their sensei and kept in touch, which was something Itachi saw no purpose in. Having graduated to chunin after two months as a Genin, Itachi had not had enough time to get to know his sensei, to him, he saw no point.

Kakashi looked up and his one eye widened with astonishment before he asked casually "well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" he asked. Itachi turned, expecting to see that she had returned to her form as a Black Jaguar like she had done with Shisui. To his amazement, she hadn't. Instead she was sitting once again on the wall, her tail resting on her lay as her ears twitched. She gave a little wave and an innocent smile. He resisted the urge not to glare.

There was no point in lying to Kakashi now that he had seen her true form. Kakashi was no idiot and Itachi knew this from the three years they had spent on the same ANBU team before Kakashi retired as a Jounin. So he answered honestly "she is Sakura...Haruno Sakura...she is honour-bound"

He did not know if this information would make any difference, after all, he had not known what a Haruno was until he was told by the Hokage. But to his mounting surprise Kakashi nodded in understanding "Ahh" he said "to whom?"

"Excuse me?"

"To whom is she honour bound?" he repeated.

Itachi did not answer at first before finally "to me"

Kakashi nodded again, the faint trace of a smile under his mast, Itachi inwardly grimaced with annoyance. Then behind him, as if to make matters worse, Sakura chuckled. The two males turned to her as she looked up "oh don't mind me" she said in her silky smooth honey voice "just enjoying Itachi here's immense discomfort." She laughed.

Kakashi eyes smiled "I see, you are very far away from home miss Haruno, tell me, how did you and Itachi come into contact"

She shrugged "he found me in my animal form while I was on the verge of bleeding to death"

"Ahh" Kakashi nodded once again.

"And you are?" she asked

He smiled "Kakashi Hatake"

Itachi watched the exchange with interest, Kakashi was strangely relaxed about this "Kakashi, do you know about the Haruno clan?" Kakashi looked up with one lazy eye "why yes"

"How so?"

He blinked "from the child's story" he replied. Itachi had not been expecting that answer "child's…story, I have not heard of it"

Kakashi blinked again and turned fully to face Itachi "really, it's actually a very popular story. Most children by the age of seven or five hear of it, either from reading it themselves, or from their friends. It's a really good tale, about a clan of people with an animal kekai genkai. The book is a collection of tales from the Haruno's personal experiences and quite popular with children. And because of its touch of real life history to do with the actual clan, the academy even advises the children to read it. Many of the stories are about Haruno's who have gone into Honour-bounds with many well known people. It's a good book" he thought for a moment. "But then again, now that I think about it, the Uchiha clan never were really fond of the Haruno clan stories, believing them to be nonsense. And especially with you being their clan air, I can't imagine you reading that many children's stories" he commented

A book, there was a children's book about the Haruno clan? He hadn't known that. But then, perhaps Kakashi was right. His family were realists, they probably didn't encourage children's stories and he was also right about his parents. Itachi had never read that many kids' books as a child, only history scrolls about battle strategies. Only things to do with his studies. And he had not had any friends to gossip about children's books, it wasn't surprising he hadn't heard of the book before.

Sakura smiled "There's a book about my people, really! Wow!" she grinned "I'm famous"

"Exactly" Kakashi said as he asked "so Itachi, what are you going to do now"

"Hn?"

"Well you can't exactly lock her away. And people are going to find out about her soon enough, the village talks. It would be best, to just come right out with it"

"That is unacceptable" he couldn't let anyone know, this wasn't something that he did, saving dying cats, healing them, showing weakness. It was a weakness that he couldn't afford. Beside him Sakura sighed "man, you are so gloomy, is he always like this?" she turned to Kakashi who smiled under is mask "oh, only always"

She raised an eyebrow with an amused smile "so that's why you don't want to show me off, you don't want people to know you have a heart"

Itachi glared, Kakashi continued to smile, Sakura just grinned. "I believe I'm going to like this girl" Kakashi said to himself '_Itachi's patience is not going to last'_ he thought to himself amused.

"Maa, Maa. People are going to find out eventually, in my opinion better now than later. But…" he nodded "It really isn't any of my business, there's no reason to get overly involved. I won't say anything, so don't worry." he waved "Bye" and with that he proofed out in a puff of smoke. Sakura clapped her hands together "well that was certainly interesting" she grinned and Itachi glared at her. Then he sighed.

Kakashi was right, eventually, people would find out, he would not be surprised if the whole village knew he had taken a ninja-animal by now. Perhaps she could stay constantly in her Black Jaguar form, but he knew she would object, and he did not want to force her into it

"_Well what if you were forced to constantly hide your Sharingan, a part of who you are, because it was an inconvenience to someone. To act like you were ashamed of yourself?"_

No, he did not want to force her to hide. Though he highly doubted it, she was a member of a strong clan, and it would be disrespectful to hide that power as if she were ashamed. He would not force her to do something like that…not that he could, if her tantrum from the night before held any evidence.

He looked at her as she smiled. "Itachi, I am your partner, I will stand by you no matter what. So whatever happens, know that I will do my best to make it work" she shrugged "I have my honour, but I don't wish to be a complete nuisance. So if it truly bothers you, then I…" she sighed "I will try to remain in my Black Jaguar's form for as long as possible and if someone were to see me as myself, then I will not mention you. Not for always!" she added quickly "but just to give you time t adjust to the idea of me. Is that what you want?"

Itachi didn't answer, he only stared at her. _Is that what you want?_ She was concerned for him, when only a while back she was so against the idea of her roaming the village as a cat.

"Don't take this in the wrong way., I still refuse to go alone like a Black Jaguar, I'm saying I will stay with you always, and in those times I will be as my cat self. If I wish to go alone, thenI will be like this" she gestured to her ears "but perhaps, I will wear a hat" she shrugged.

"But I think that for the next few days, we should concentrate on getting to know each other better. But I can't train with you though"

"Why not?" he found himself asking

"Because of my injuries. While my body may have healed, my chakra is still working on my insides. Checking to take care of internal damage and such"

Itachi thought for a moment "we could get you seen to by a medic"

At this her eyes gleamed with something he did not understand before it returned to normal "no, that won't be acceptable. Because it is forbidden for any outside medics to touch us. My clans rule, it's to keep out bloodlines safe" she answered his unasked question.

Itachi nodded. "Alright then, that is a compromise we can live with" he held out his hand and she shook it, sealing them to their fate.

WOW, NEW CHAPTER FINALLY.

I HOPE IT WAS OK, I DIDDNT WANT TO MAKE HIS TOO OOC OR ANYTHING, BUT I SAID ALREADY THAT I WAS GONG TO CHANGE HIM A LITTLE.

ANYWAY, PLEASE REVIEW, SAKURA MEETS MORE NINJA'S NEXT CHAPTER.

SASUKE'S ON A SOLO MISSION, I DESIDED THIS BECAUSE I WANTED THEIR MEETING TO BE…SPECIAL. I HAVE SOMETHING REALLY GOOD PLANNED.

REVIEW PLEASE, I'm HOPING FOR AT LEAST FIVE REVEIWS BEFORE I POST AGAIN.


	5. Identity issues

HELLO EVERYONE

I JUST WANNA POINT OUT QUICKLY THAT TO ANY READERS OF 'A CHILDHOOD LOVE' I RE-WROTE THE CHAPTER INTO SOMTHING COMPLEATLY DIFFERENT. SO YOU MAY WANNA CHECK IT OUT BEFORE I WRIGHT THE NEXT CHAPTER. I WONT START ON IT UNTILL I GET AT LEAST ONE COMMENT ON IT.

ON ANOTHER NOTE, IM SO GLAD ABOUT THIS STORY, ONLY ONE DAY OUT AND ALREAD FIVE REVIWS, THANK-YOU EVERYONE. I BGAN ON THIS THE MINIUT I SAW THEM. IM REALLY GLAD FOR YOUR REVEIWS.

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR CAT-GIRLS...OR PHEROMONE INDUCED UCHIHA'S (SNIGGERS) BUT DONT WE ALL LOVE EM?

CHAPTER FIVE

* * *

"Do you see?"

"I can see"

"That's the Nin-animal that the Uchiha took, right? I thought Uchiha's didn't approve of Nin animals?"

"Well when you're a clan heir, I guess they can bend the rules"

"Oh she's so beautiful, just the partner you'd expect for Uchiha Itachi"

Itachi inwardly groaned and ignored the whispering if the villagers as he walked down the streets of Konoha to the fifth training grounds. There were no missions for his team and no solo missions for himself so the Hokage and commissioned him to take a small break and get to know his partner, who was right beside him in her feline form. Itachi could almost understand why so many people in the village were in so much awe of her. When she walked like this, with her head held high and her bright green eyes sturdy as the sun glinted of her fur, she looked so beautiful and powerful with each confident step she took.

He blinked and not for the first time that week, dispelled the strange thoughts to flit through his head. The pheromones her body gave off were still affecting him, but to his pleasure it wasn't as bad as before. These days it rarely came up. And all the other times he complemented her beauty there was no attraction behind it, only admiration.

Beside him, Sakura chuckled "I'm famous" she murmured so quietly that only he could make out any actual words, to anyone else she was simply growling. He didn't reply, over the course of the five days he'd spent with her since, he'd found that when he replied to her in conversations as a cat, while to everyone else she was growling, for him he appeared to be talking out loud to himself, which was not the image he wanted. So he reserved conversations to training, when she would return to her humanoid form and would sit on the fence nearby or a tree and watch, hurling occasional comments that he didn't find amusing. It had become almost like a schedule.

Sakura was very secretive, every night she would steal away and would always find him in the morning, no matter where he was. And when he inquired how she was able to find him she would only smile and change the question. But she never left his side, where ever he went; she companied his as his companion.

Everyone who saw them commented that they had such a good relationship that the cold and Uchiha Itachi would keep her round him all the time. Itachi began to become used to her presence, but he knew that one day, he would have to reveal her true identity. She never really went out in her humanoid form, other than in the early morning or late nights when people were not around, so there were no rumours of a pink-haired cat girl running though the village.

"So Uchiha, what's next on the agenda today, training, training or perhaps for a change of pace...more training?" she asked sarcastically. Itachi could see her point, whenever he trained, she would always just sit there and watch, not the most exciting things to do, but it was necessary. However he could see why she would be bored. But because of his lack of missions, there was not much else for him to do. Itachi wasn't the kind of person to 'take it easy and relax' he preferred to be doing something at all times, he hated being still or relaxing and often in the times he tried, he would find himself distracted. The only times when he was in a way relaxed was when he meditated.

They began to reach the training ground, no people about. "Why do you not leave?" he asked as she stepped over to one side of the grounds. "I can't leave, remember?" she said with a roll of her eyes "I am honour..."

"I didn't mean 'leave the village' I meant, why do you not roam in you humanoid form?" not that he wanted her to be found out, but her boredom was irritating when she took it out on making remarks on everything he did during training. If she were gone, perhaps he would get some peace and quiet.

She looked up at him "oh, like this?" her fur began to lighten and thin out till it was replaced with skin, her crouched down posture straitened till she was standing, her the fur covering her head began to lengthen and turn pink as her slim cat eyes widened so it was more human like, her tail's colour began to change colour too, as did her ears till she was standing before him as a human-looking cat-girl. She smirked.

They reached the training ground. This one was in the farthest part of the village, far away from anyone and most people did not use it because it was so leafy and un-kept. But Itachi saw all the foliage as obstacles and preferred to train in these conditions. And even Sakura seemed to like being surrounded by nature. She would sometimes clime a tree and take a nap in its long branches while he trained. His ANBU team were out on a mission with another team, so Itachi had been training alone recently. Which was how he preferred it.

Itachi usually hated training when other people were watching. It wasn't that he was self conscious about anything or modest. He just preferred training alone, when people watched, he couldn't concentrate. Especially when they were Kunoichi. When Itachi was in the academy, he would hate the open battles the academy had. It was difficult keeping focus when the entire female population of the school was screeching and screaming or drooling behind him. Itachi found it, unnerving, it was why he hated females and preferred to stay away from them.

But Sakura was different. She wasn't like those idiotic Kunoichi from the academy or in the village. Besides her occasional random comments she would always sit and watch him quietly, observing with those curious green eyes. The way she looked at him was different from the way others looked at him. When those Kunoichi looked at him, it was compared to a hungry wolf looking at a scrap of meat. When his clan or parents saw him, they saw only the clan heir, nothing more, and with everyone else, admiration shone through their eyes. But with Sakura, it was different. When she saw him, she really saw _him. _Not with lust, not as a clan heir, not with admiration and not as simply an Uchiha. But him. And for some reason, he was pleased with that fact.

She spoke to him, and insulted him, and _tried_ to joke with him like he were any other person, there was no difference. At first he had felt disrespected by how she insulted him as he pleased. But eventually that changed, now he found himself glad that she was so open with him, that she had no problem with him. That she treated him like anyone else. Because of it, it was so easy to be around her. Easier then it was when compared with anyone else.

"Itachi"

He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of her voice. She was looking at him with a mixture of humour and concern "did you go off into La-la land again" she had even nick-named the times when he was deep in thought! That's how unbelievable she was. Anyone else would never have dared to be so forward with him. But she had no such qualms. And also, he didn't really mind it, she was one of the few and only people who he allowed to be so open with him. And the thought, that after only one week things had come to this, almost unnerved him.

Itachi regarded with approval that the cloths he had required for her appeared also while she was in human form, he did not question how, and was instead only glad for it. She was now wearing a red Kunoichi shirt with a zipper down the front and a single white rind on the back. Kunoichi shorts with a blue skirt over them. She no longer went about barefoot; instead he had acquired some shinobi sandals. The cloths had been a gift from the Hokage to his new Haruno partner who had, to his surprise, loved them. They were a huge improvement on his black shirt and white shorts

She grabbed the hat that had come along with the cloths. It was a baggy hat that was almost square like on the top; it looked fashionable and served its purpose of hiding her ears effectively. Unfortunately, she did not like the hat. "It's too uncomfortable" she whined "it holds my ears down and I swear that yesterday they looked lop-sided" she said while holding out the hat with obvious dislike displayed on her face.

Sakura, Itachi had realised, was extremely foreword. She was so different from women he had known before, so open with her feelings, while most women hid their thoughts, either to attract men or because they were too polite, Sakura had no such qualms. She freely went about insulting everyone and everything, giving her honest opinion, Itachi found it almost, refreshing. At first he was irritated as anyone would be, thinking it was her being blatantly rude, until he realised that she was being completely honest.

And a lot of the time, when she insulted someone, she ended up being right about them when he thought about it. He became used to her ways, and in fact, took some humour out of it. It was amusing, Itachi almost contemplated bringing her home to meet his father, for the simple reason that he wanted to know what she would have to say about _him._

As for Itachi himself, she frequently regarded him as 'a funny little human' but she would not explain her meaning. Itachi found to his amazement, that he actually enjoyed her company. And it wasn't because of her pheromones; he genuinely enjoyed having her by her side.

"You know what" she grinned "I think my insides have healed properly" she walked up to him "so if you wanna sparring partner, then that's fine with me. We can train together"

Itachi blinked. Train together? The Hokage had said before, Sakura was from a fighting clan, and she had said before that the minuet her injuries were healed she wanted to train with him. And Itachi also found himself wanting to see her skill. If she was to become his partner, then he needed to assess her strengths and weaknesses.

He nodded "good, then are you prepared?"

She grinned, showing her fangs "oh, I've been ready all week, my body wasn't" and with that she sprung away from him so fast and landed delicately with grace only a cat would posses.

He took his place "no Jutsu" he called out "this is Tai Jutsu training, weapons are allowed however" he added remembering her claws, that had to be considered a weapon. Sakura nodded in agreement "ready?"

He smirked, he liked her enthusiasm. They bowed and with that the fight began. Itachi leaped forward with a blow to her head. But then to his surprise, she wasn't there. He blinked and when something flashed in the corner of his eye as he raised his arm-guards to something. Briefly he blinked at the impact and opened them to see Sakura. When had she gotten behind him? He hadn't even seen her move! And not only that, her claws were so long. They had grown, they were now about as big as a 15cm ruler, and if they were as sharp as they looked, then Itachi was glad that he was wearing arm-guards.

She smirked "told you I was fast"

She had, in one of their conversations. Itachi, to his surprise, found himself smirking also "you did" he replied as he pushed away and she went flying into the trees. But Sakura didn't let that stop her; instead she only used the trees to push of as she leaped into another branch and got ready for another attack.

Suddenly she disappeared and Itachi instinctively leaped to the right as he felt a gush of air beside him "Hayai!" he murmured as he deflected her second blow. The only thing that had saved him before was twenty-four years of reflexes. She was so fast, much faster that he had anticipated.

Itachi raised his kunai and inwardly smirked. Perhaps this was going to be an interesting battle after all.

* * *

Two hours later, both Itachi as Sakura were sat on the forest floor on the opposite sides of a tree, panting heavily. Itachi felt exhausted, that's right, completely drained on strength. She had been fast, too fast. So fast he had had so much trouble keeping up. And at the same time. He kept getting the feeling that she was still holding back. This was bad enough in itself, but the fact that he had had so much trouble keeping up when she wasn't even trying her best was another matter.

Her speed was her strongest point in Tai Jutsu. Also her fighting style was flawless, she defiantly knew what she was doing and her aim was good too, Itachi was practically Itachi to see her try her hand with kunai. But as for the power behind her blows, there was her problem. If it were just speed, then it would be ok. Itachi had a feeling that if her attacks had been stronger, then he would have been in trouble. But his powerful attacks and quick defences had balanced out well against her speed.

They had come to a draw.

His first draw in years.

Why didn't he feel bad? In fact, he felt great, the exeleration was incredible. To train with someone who actually could rival him. And her constant remarks though the battle had kept the humour going. He could almost say that the spar had been fun. How curious.

Suddenly Sakura raised her head and belted out in laughter that lasted at least two minutes. She had a nice laugh, he decided. Some people laughed strangely and awkwardly, but her laugh was clear and strong, like she was. It gushed over him like a wave till he found himself smirking alongside her. She raised her hand to wipe a tear from her eye "Oh man" she gasped "I haven't had such a good battle in like...forever"

When he did not answer she raised an eyebrow "oh come on Itachi, don't tell me that that wasn't a blast. Or at least a little fun" he didn't answer because he couldn't answer, he was still recovering. So he only nodded. He had never gone up against someone this fast before. She rivalled even Guy and his student Lee. He had not expected such speed, so his body was unprepared for the measures he pushed himself to. A thought came to mind.

"In this village..." he rasped finally" her ears pricked up at his voice. "There is a man called Guy and his student Lee..." he continued, then gave something akin to a smirk "you...will challenge him." She blinked and smiled "is that so?"

He nodded. "They are under the assumption that they are the fastest in Konoha". Sakura nodded and sighed "Well then, we'll just have to prove them wrong sometime?"

_Sometime?_ That was is he ever got around to revealing her identity to the village.

"You lack in strength" he murmured, but it was loud enough for her to hear. "Excuse me?". He repeated himself, you lack in strength, you attacks aren't so powerful." She frowned "says the person on the ground, panting along side of me" he growled. He shook his head "you could have won if you were stronger in that aspect" he said. "We came to a draw" she snapped "if you are insinuating that I'm weak then I..."

"You aren't"

"...just want to say... ...come again" she said. Itachi forced himself to sit up so he was looking at her. Her clothes were dirty and were in need of a washing and her face was just as filthy. Her eyes were half closed as she panted. He watched the faint rise and fall of her chest. Her hair was sticking to her neck, sweat soaked and in strands. But somehow, she still looked amazing. She looked powerful, like someone who had had a good workout. How could someone look this way and still seem so enticing? Itachi was so engrossed in his observations that he failed to notice that his attraction, this time, wasn't induced by the pheromones. He was simply and honestly admiring her beauty.

"You aren't weak" he continued "you are simply lacking in power, just like I am lacking in speed. If we continue to spar like this, both of us will improve" he said. She looked at him simply "did I hear right? Did you just admit that you aren't perfect? Perhaps I need to document this moment" he chuckled softly, so soft she did not even hear it. It was so strange, things that he would not have thought anything about before, were suddenly making him laugh, giving him pleasure, like a lame joke or a simple sparing session. How curious.

"So my speed huh?" she murmured more to herself then to him "anything else"

"Huh?"

"Anything else, or is my speed the only good thing about my fighting style" she asked exceedingly. Itachi closed his eyes, as if he were in deep thought "your claws" he said as his hand went up to trace the deep angry marks on his cheek that he had received at one point when he hadn't been fast enough. He was going to need to see the Hokage about this, since she was the only one with medical knowledge who would believe the story of _'I was sparring with my cat-woman partner'_. Itachi almost smiled at the insanity of the whole thing.

"My claws?"

"Never get them sharpened"

At first Sakura blinked, not quite getting it, but then the extent of his words hit her and she burst out laughing. "My...claws..." she laughed "...don't...sharpen...my claws" she sighed "Oh Itachi, you really are a funny human. Perhaps there's hope for you yet." This time he raised his eyebrow "and what do you mean by that?" She shook her head "doesn't matter, so, on a scale of one-ten, how was I?"

He thought. Why was he taking part in this verbal spar, it was pointless. But he looked up into her expectant eyes and found himself answering "eight or nine"

* * *

Things continued like that. Every morning Itachi would wake up; leave his apartment to find Sakura already in her cat form standing at the bottom of the apartment stairs. They'd walk to the training field and spar.

So far it was only Tai just, Itachi wanted to build up on his speed and he wanted Sakura to gain more power in her attacks. They learned from each other, and Itachi learned something else about his cat-eared partner. She was an extremely quick learner. He was almost enjoying himself while he taught her the basics to different styles of Tai Jutsu, this being so she was no longer simply slashing at anything with her claws, but directing real attacks. She had no need for kunai, for her fangs and claws were weapon enough, but Itachi still wanted her to learn.

There was no knowing when she would not be able to reach her opponent, speed or not, so in those cases, kunai and Shurikin were essential. "Ne, Itachi" Sakura called from the ground. They had arrived at the seventh training ground and Sakura was lying on her stomach with her head propped up on her hands while Itachi set up targets for her to practice on.

It was hard to believe that they had become so familiar with each other after only one month. Hearing his name freely on her lips seemed so natural, he didn't know how it would sound if she suddenly started calling him 'Uchiha'.

"Why are you teaching me all this stuff?" she asked, her tail swishing back to forth lazily.

Itachi looked up "because you need these skills" he said.

She shrugged "but really, I don't see the point. I mean...it doesn't seem like you're going to introduce my identity anytime soon. So why teach me these human techniques, I'm just gonna end up fighting in my panther form anyway" Itachi turned to her to see that her head was turned away from him, but he could see that her lip was pursed in a pout and there was something in her eyes...sadness? No, that wasn't, she wouldn't get so upset over such a thing, didn't she say that she would try to make it work as a cat?

And what was that strange feeling in his chest when he saw her eyes like that?

Itachi brushed it off, blaming his feelings on her pheromones. "I will proceed with introducing your identity"

"When?"

"Soon"

She sighed. This was a regular thing for them too. She would always approach the topic of her identity being known. But he would always shoot it down.

But now that Itachi thought about it, why was that? He looked at Sakura who was inspecting her claws with her head turned away. She was so strange, what would people think of her? Would they hate her? Would they accept her? Was it wrong to want to keep things they way they were? She had said before that she would always try her best to make things work, so why was she so insistent on it?

'_Is that what you want?'_

She may not know, but he really, in his own way, appreciated her words. She was so...strange. She actually considered what he wanted? But now that he was seriously thinking about it, what did he want?

"You are such a Baka"

Her voice once again drew him out of his thoughts "what"

She looked away from him at the ground "every day we go though the same thing. Over and over, it's a daily routine, but we always come to the same conclusion, when is it gonna end?"

Itachi watched as she got to her feet, her tail had stopped swishing and was holding perfectly still, her head was still faced down "I said, when is it going to end?" her voice sounded strange, like she was holding back on something. "I tried to be considerate, I tried so hard, but you just don't seem to get it. I've been so quiet, waiting so patiently for you to decide, but it just kept going on and on and...and I'm sick of it!"

He watched her, her shoulders were trembling slightly, she was...angry? "I said I would reveal you, and I will do so in time" he said evenly.

"But when!" she cried, still not looking up

"Soon"

"Dammit Itachi THATS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" and her head shot up, Itachi looked right into her eyes, the fire and anger was showing so clearly in her eyes it was un-missable, but also pain.

"it's so dishonourable living like this, like a secret, like I'm ashamed. Those people in the streets whisper about me like...like...like I was some sort of frikken pet, and you don't care at all!"

His eyes became lidded "I was under the impression that you did not want to be a complete nuisance, and that you were willing to remain in your panther form."

"For the time being!" she screeched

"Dammit, don't you care at all! I meant it when I said I would try to make it work, but what about you, what about me? When was the last time you even for once thought about _my_ feelings, and about what _I _wanted?"

Itachi was a loss for words, and she took that silence as her answer as her head lowered once more "do I...do I disgust you this much? Is the idea of having me as you partner really so humiliating? Am I really not good enough?" she looked up, there was sadness in her eyes, and shame "are you really so ashamed of me?"

No, that wasn't it. Itachi knew this much. He was anything but ashamed of her "no" he answered.

"So why won't you reveal me?"

He didn't answer, because he did not know the answer.

"Do you...really hate me so much?" his eyes snapped to attention to this. "No that's not it".

she didn't seem to be listening "I had thought that during these past weeks, during this month we've been together, I had hoped...I knew we weren't friends or comrades or anything, but I had thought you at least felt familiar with me, that you...at least _liked_ me a little, or even enjoyed my company. I can freely admit that for a human, you aren't so bad. But what about you." She tugged on her ears "do these really disgust you so much?"

Itachi did not say anything; he did not know what to say.

Sakura sighed "well I guess there's my answer" she walked past him, Itachi felt her go past, he could have reached out to stop her, but he didn't. Instead he only called "where you going?"

"I don't know, to clear my head" and with a colder tone she added "the whole village may see me as you pet, but you better get these facts strait, I don't belong to _anyone_ but myself. "

And with that she ran off. Itachi wouldn't have been able to stop her even if he could. But he couldn't, he was still routed to the ground. Sakura's words still fresh in his mind.

"_Dammit, don't you care at all! I meant it when I said I would try to make it work, but what about you, what about me? When was the last time you even for once thought about my feelings, and about what I wanted?"_

Now he understood. She felt...ashamed

"_It's so dishonourable living like this, like a secret. Those people in the streets whisper about me like...like...like I was some sort of frikken pet, and you don't care at all!"_

She hated how people had labelled her as simply 'Uchiha's Nin-animal. Itachi had spent enough time with Sakura to know that her honour and pride was important to her.

And yet...she had waited, endured her humiliation, because of him?

_"Itachi, I am your partner, I will stand by you no matter what. So whatever happens, know that I will do my best to make it work" she shrugged "I have my honour, but I don't wish to be a complete nuisance. So if it truly bothers you, then I…I will try to remain in my panther's form for as long as possible and if someone were to see me as myself, then I will not mention you. Is that what you want?"_

She had held herself back for his sake, for him. Because of what she had said. But Itachi knew, she was only human...or partly human, and the human side of her grew impatient. She wasn't perfect, he knew this. So why did he constantly put off of revealing her presence to everyone?

"_Are you really so ashamed of me?"_

No. He was not ashamed of her. As far as he knew, and from what he knew of her, there was nothing to be ashamed of. She was strong, confident, beautiful and capable. Everything a person could want in a partner. He was not ashamed of her.

_She tugged on her ears "do these really disgust you so much?" "Do I disgust you that much? Dose the idea of having me as you partner really so humiliating, am I really not good enough?"_

She didn't disgust him, nor was he humiliated by her. At first he may have felt that way, but somehow...he felt differently now. He knew this much. So what was holding him back?

* * *

Sakura was so angry; her whole body was trembling with anger. She wanted to hit him, she wanted to scratch the living daylights out of him, but she knew she couldn't. Outside of training, it would be dishonourable to harm the life of one who had saved hers.

But he was such an idiot!

The biggest Baka in the history of ever.

She hated him. How could he say that? _'"I was under the impression that you did not want to be a complete nuisance, and that you were willing to remain in your panther form."' _Was he stupid, or perhaps just emotionally stunted, or maybe a bit of both? Couldn't he see how hard she had been trying for so long? One whole moth, one whole bloody month she put up with the whispers of 'isn't that the Uchiha's Nin-animal?' or 'how lucky that the Uchiha was able to acquire such a beast"

She was a living creature dammit; she hated how they talked about her as if she were some common house-pet! She was a Haruno, not just Uchiha's pet! And she hated how relaxed he was about all of this. Didn't he care?

Sacra had been under the impression that the Uchiha was intelligent, but didn't he realise anything? Was he that stupid? She had tried, and tried so hard, but there was only so far a girl could go. She may not be human, but she was still female. Did he think that just because she didn't gawk at him like the other girls did that she wasn't female?

If so then he's the biggest, sexist, Baka in the history if ever.

Sakura stopped in her tracks and took in a deep breath. No, it wouldn't do to lose her head over bad situations or stupid humans, as her teacher had frequently said. But then again, her tutor had over-looked one little mishap, Sakura's bad temper. Sakura was calm and collected most of the time, so in the rare times she was angry, people usually ran.

And after all, another thing her tutor had said was to (not in her exact words however) 'educate stupid humans when they needed it' and in Sakura's opinion, Itachi needed it. But how?

Then Sakura looked up, and realised something. She was lost.

Itachi had never taken her this way before; she didn't know where she was! Where the heck was she? She could always follow Itachi's scent back to him, but the way Sakura felt now she preferred being lost to seeing his face again.

Then suddenly, there was a scent. A mouth watering scent, like broth and fried dough. It was so wonderful and strangely familiar. Sakura checked her memory, when was the last time she had eaten? A month ago. Itachi may think she ate regularly, but it wasn't as if he cared enough to check if she did so or not.

Her stomach growled, she was sooo hungry!

Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to just take a little look to see that that smell was. So Sakura followed her nose till the trees began to thicken out and Sakura realised she had been in a training ground, one of the ones closest to the village market. She paused. Itachi would not like her to go into the village as a human; he would want to introduce her himself. However...at this very moment Sakura was too angry with him to care about what he wanted. And why should she? It's not like he even thought about _her, _even though they were suppose to be partners. She fumbled in the fanny pack on her waist till she had found what she was looking for. The hat.

How she hated this hat. Sakura's ears were everything. Not only were they a sigh that she was proud of her heritage, but also they were her ears. She couldn't hear without them and hearing for a panther was extremely important, the most important next to smell and sight. And with the hat, Sakura's hearing was muffled and her hearing range was limited, not to mention how it cramps them. Makes her fur sweat and there was always the possibility of them going lop-sided later. Sakura would just die of humiliation if she ever returned home with lop-sided ears.

However, she really did not want people taking one look at her ears and screaming "Beast!". After the first dozen villages or so, the reaction had become tedious.

So, with much distaste. She jammed the hat onto her head and carefully tucked her tail away into her waist band to hide it from view. She then took out something else from her pack. A long skirt like garment (like the one Horo wears in Spice and wolf). It was red, with a beige outlining, made of a light breathable material and had plenty of room so it did not crush her tail. He had gotten it for her at the last moment, to conceal her tail so she wouldn't have to tuck it away anymore.

It had been cheap, but all the same a thoughtful gesture. He had listened to her ranting about the hat, and bought this out of his own pocket. Actually, this had been the main reason why she had begun to open up a little.

Sakura shook her head to rid herself of any wondering thoughts, and reminded herself that she was supposed to be furious with him. After all, she wouldn't need to wear this stupid thing if he would only reveal her identity. She scowled with anger, it was all his fault. She was not going back until he realised that.

But nonetheless, Sakura tied the skirt in place and followed the scent.

The smell lead her into the village she looked around. In a way, it was actually really cute. All the stores lined up in rows. Sakura smiled and walked down the street in the direction of the smell. As she walked she realised something. People were going about their daily business. Shop owners were vending, florists were arranging, cooks were...well...cooking. And people were going in and out of stores.

And no one was looking at her.

To Sakura, it seemed almost unbelievable. That **she**, of all people, could actually walk down a street with her head held high, not a care in the world. Like it was normal. In the past, when Sakura had been young and foolish, only just have left her clan to go on her 'journey', she would go into the villages once in a while.

Even if she weren't human, she still had human blood. She was no savage animal with No thoughts, her village were civilised and structured as any other village. Sakura had thought that perhaps she may even get a job to pay for her next meal. But no one would hire her, they all took one look at her ears and would either simply turn her away, or scream about a wild animal.

Village after village after village until one day Sakura finally became fed up. She avoided villages to the maximum and remained mainly in her panther form, only returning to her true form when it was dark so no one could see.

That's right.

Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked to the ground with a sad smile. The only reason they were acting so normal, was because her ears and tail were concealed. Perhaps the people would not be so friendly if they knew the truth. Was that perhaps the reason Itachi still hadn't revealed her existence? Because he was concerned for her feelings? And how the village would react to her?

Sakura shook her head. No, even if that were so, there was no reason why he couldn't have just told her. Sakura wasn't an animal, she wasn't some beast, she was a living breathing creature and she had a brain. If he had told her the truth then she could have talked with him, explained to him how she could handle it because she was used to humans hating her.

But he did not ask, or even consider it.

Did he see her as a beast too? A beast incapable of understanding things like that? A beast who only knew to fight? That must be the reason why he had been training her so seriously; he wouldn't want his weapon/beast to be weak.

Sakura sighed and pushed out all thought of Itachi, he didn't matter, right now, all that mattered was that smell.

She finally reached it and stopped in her tracks. So _that's_ why the scent was broth and fried dough, because it_ was_ broth and fried dough. Or in a better term, Raman. The sight above the noodle bar said Ichiraku's Raman Shop. Sakura knew this because she had seen one before, in a village she had visited in the past. That's why the smell had felt familiar, because it as familiar. Sakura remembered how attracted to the smell of the noodles she had been, but had been unable to buy them for lack of money.

Just like she was now.

Sakura sighed as her stomach began to rumble. She was hungry.

Sakura was gazing at the Raman stand with moon eyes, so she didn't notice the bunch of teen Shinobi coming her way. "Naruto! Watch where you going" a blue eyes woman with pale blond hair tied up high"

"Forget it Ino, when it's Raman, nothing can get though to him" sighed a brunette girl beside her with her hair in two buns on the side of her head. a boy this time sighed. Her had dark hair also tied up but only in a style that looked like he had a pineapple on his head "how troublesome.

The boy, Naruto as the called him, was a hyper-active young eighteen year old. And just like his friends said, when it came to Raman, he went off into his own little world. He was so far away, that he didn't notice the pink-haired female staring with longing anime eyes at the Raman store, until he crashed into her. Naruto stopped, after he realised her had collided with someone and looked around to find Sakura rubbing her behind with a pained expression "i-i-itai" she said painfully.

Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned with a worried expression "waaa, Goman, goman nasai!" he cried as he ran to her "hey, are you all right". The girl ignored him. Naruto noticed she was dressed in a standard Kunoichi outfit with a long skirt and a funny looking hat. Flowing down her back in waves looked to be...pink hair?"

Sakura looked up and Naruto found himself looking into green eyes, the deepest green like the forests. She blinked her dazed expression sharpening. Sakura looked up, there was a boy standing over her. What just happened? She noticed, he had bright blond yellow hair like the sun and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Such a pretty soulful blue. Like the sky. Then she blinked, this was the idiot who had knocked her down.

WOW LONG CHAPTER. AND I WAS GONNA MAKE IT LONGER, BUT I THOUGHT I SHOULD SAVE IT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER. THERE'S A REASON SHE HASENT MET SAI YET, BECAUSE HE TOO, I HAVE A _SPECIAL_ MEETING IN MIND.

BAKA ITACHI, HE REALLY DOSE GET ON YOUR NERVS SOMETIMES.

PLEASE REVEIW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.


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